WILL PUTIN GIVE A SURPRISE OR…
JAMES HAKOBYAN
Story from Lragir.am News:
Published: 19:45:18 – 02/08/2011
The invitation which was voiced during the meeting of participants of
the youth camp and Putin in the place called Seliger, Russia, caused
lively interest in the Armenian press and social networks. The author
is Ms. Ani Alaverdyan from the Bargavach Hayastan Party who invited
Putin to Armenia to participate in the CIS Youth Conference which kicks
off August 20 in Armenia. Putin promised to think on this invitation.
It became known a few weeks ago that a group of Armenian young people
are going to invite Putin to Armenia. It is the initiative of the
organization of the Youth Government of Armenia whose leader is a
member of the Bargavach Hayastan Party. This organization undertakes
the CIS young people’s gathering in Armenia.
In fact, the youth wing of the BGP is seriously set to invite Putin.
They were not limited to the written invitation and were able to use
the opportunity and invite Putin personally. Will Putin arrive? The
time of the invitation is notable.
Putin is invited to Armenia on August 20. Last year on this day the
Russian president Medvedev visited Armenia. He signed the agreement
on prolonging the term of deployment of military bases.
It is symbolic that Putin is invited to Armenia a year after Medvedev’s
visit, considering that his presidential pretensions are acquiring
more open and brazen forms.
Interestingly, the invitation comes from the BHP, even though its
youth wing. After all, the BHP youth would hardly do this without
the consent of the leader of their party, Gagik Tsarukyan. In other
words, Putin’s visit will be of great political importance, one
way or another. It will increase the political weight of the BHP,
at least in the government camp.
Certainly, Putin is aware of this, and the question is whether he
will agree to take a step which will trigger political manipulations
in Armenia. In this sense, Robert Kocharyan’s recent meeting with
Putin was interesting. When a few weeks ago Robert Kocharyan’s office
informed about his meeting with Putin that lasted for two hours,
the Russian Regnum Agency, referring to the staff of the Russian
prime minister, denied there had been a meeting.
Interestingly, after this information, Robert Kocharyan’s office
did not rush to refute Regnum’s reports. It implies that Kocharyan’s
office was embarrassed by Regnum’s report, trying to guess why Putin
denied meeting with Kocharyan. Then everything was settled, of course,
and Putin’s office confirmed the meeting.
It is evidence that Putin does not want his name to be manipulated
in Armenia. Perhaps Putin will refuse the invitation, knowing that
it will trigger political interpretations.
Even though nothing should be ruled out in politics, especially that
the situation in both Armenia and Russia develops dynamically, and
changes happen continuously, and the question is the frequency at
which it happens.
Consequently, don’t be surprised if soon Putin comes to Armenia or even
meets with Robert Kocharyan in Armenia. The ongoing developments in
Armenia seemed impossible a few months ago but today the government and
the opposition have designated delegations which started negotiations,
approved the agenda of snap elections, and even announced that
Ter-Petrosyan and Serzh Sargsyan may eventually meet face to face.
So, we have appeared in a political cycle where surprise is a waste
of effort, attention and time.