ArmInfo.Former director of the National Security Service (NSS) of Armenia Arthur Vanetsyan, heading a new center-right political party, intends to act in opposition to the government of Nikol Pashinyan.
In an interview with Interfax news agency, former head of the NSS of Armenia Artur Vanetsyan stated that the new political force will be centrist – center-right, and that traditions and progress will be harmoniously interwoven in the basis of ideology and programs. <At the moment, there is a process of extensive consultations with like-minded people and possible partners, and only after all possible discussions we will put forward specific program provisions and a roadmap for further actions. The new political force will be the opposition, "Vanetsyan said. According to him, currently there are many problems in Armenia that need to be resolved, and the government has moved away from the goals of the" velvet revolution "in spring 2018. The ex-director of the NSS believes that there can be no return to the past in Armenia. At the same time, Vanetsyan is against tough political demarcation in society on the principle of "who is not with us, that is against us."
"This postulate today, obviously, has become a convenient rule for the current government, which is unacceptable from the point of view of building a rule of law, separation of branches of power and a balanced civil society. To my extreme conviction, radicalism and extremes should not have a place in today's Armenia. An alternative there is a black and white political field, because the world is actually full of colors, and even with dozens of shades. And we intend to create our spectrum in a common political palette, "Vanetsyan said. "Instead of widespread social consolidation, without which Armenia cannot overcome the threats hanging over the country and society, we have received new internal" trenches ", dividing into" black and white "," old and new "," consonants and not so ", mercilessly fighting each other with a friend in an atmosphere of universal hatred. A separate topic is the inadmissibility of involving power structures in all this, "Vanetsyan said.
He emphasized that Russia remains and will be a strategic ally of Armenia, in the interests of the two countries to remain reliable and predictable partners. According to him, Yerevan and Moscow should preserve the centuries-old history and the accumulated potential of fraternal and strategic relations, steadily develop them both in the bilateral and in the multilateral formats of the EAEU and CSTO.
"Today, many of those who were in the opposition's leadership and aggressively took anti-Russian positions, right up to the legislative initiative on the withdrawal of Armenia from the EAEU by Nikol Pashinyan himself, are at the helm of power in Armenia. They stated that the EAEU is a threat to the sovereignty of Armenia. Meanwhile, today they use every opportunity to emphasize the importance of Armenia's membership in the EAEU and the need to deepen cooperation with the organization, "Vanetsyan emphasized, adding that" real politics and populism incompatible. "
Meanwhile, at the request of ArmInfo to comment on the political application of the former head of St. Petersburg, the director of the Caucasus Institute, an independent political scientist Alexander Iskandaryan noted that demand for opposition to the ruling regime is now forming in Armenia. There was no serious proposal to date. According to him, the configuration of parliamentary parties reflects the post- revolutionary expectations of more than a year ago, which does not fully correspond to the current public mood.
Under these conditions, Iskandaryan said, an application for the formation of a serious extra-parliamentary force is natural. Such a force could unite in itself many disparate groups of people who are skeptical of the new regime, including representatives of past elites. On the other hand, public support for the ruling "My Step" is still quite large, and the natural downgrade is highly dependent on the number of mistakes that the new government has made and will continue to make. <Usually in Armenia the opposition could not be united, it was always divided into different, rival groups. The formation of a new, serious political force is not easy, it is still difficult to expect instantaneous successes, but the appearance of such political applications already indicates, at a minimum, the formation of a political request>, the political scientist noted. To recall, Arthur Vanetsyan was appointed to the post of director of the National Security Service of the republic on May 10, 2018, after Nikol Pashinyan was elected prime minister. September 16, 2019 Vanetsyan was relieved of his post. On February 6, 2020, he announced his intention to create a party and begin a political career.