Monday, August 8, 2022
Pashinian Ally Downplays Armenian-Russian ‘Differences’ Over Peacekeepers
• Naira Nalbandian
NAGORNO-KARABAKH -- Armored vehicles of Russian peacekeepers move along the road
towards Agdam from their check point outside Askeran, November 20, 2020.
An Armenian pro-government lawmaker has denied any major differences between
Yerevan and Moscow over the activities of Russian peacekeepers in
Nagorno-Karabakh after last week’s deadly fighting in the disputed region.
Vigen Khachatrian, a member of the ruling Civil Contract faction, said on Monday
that the situation is far from being described as “tensions” or “differences”,
but rather is a result of a lack of understanding.
Following clashes between ethnic Armenian and Azerbaijani forces along the
Lachin corridor near Nagorno-Karabakh early last week that reportedly left two
Armenian and one Azerbaijani soldier dead Armenian Prime Minister Nikol
Pashinian called for “adjusting details” of the Russian peacekeeping operation
in the region. He, in particular, suggested giving the Russian contingent a
“broader international mandate.”
“If we see that solutions are not possible in a trilateral
[Russian-Armenian-Azerbaijani] format, we will have to think about activating
additional international mechanisms,” Pashinian warned on Thursday without
elaborating.
Moscow effectively dismissed Armenian criticism as Russian Foreign Minister
Sergei Lavrov said the following day that they had not received any concrete
proposals which the Armenian prime minister wants to discuss in the context of
the Russian peacekeeping operation in Nagorno-Karabakh.
“So I can’t guess now,” the top Russian diplomat said, stressing at the same
time that the Russian peacekeepers are “making every effort to stabilize the
situation on the ground.”
Armenian Foreign Ministry spokesman Vahan Hunanian said later on Friday that it
was still in February 2021 that the Armenian side put in writing and submitted
to the top Russian leadership its concerns about the activities of the Russian
peacekeeping contingent in Nagorno-Karabakh in order to raise their efficiency
and avoid problems in the future.
The exchange between the Armenian and Russian officials gave rise to
speculations about growing differences between Yerevan and Moscow regarding the
matter.
Armenia’s Foreign Ministry has not yet disclosed details of the 2021 document
that it says was submitted to Russia.
Vigen Khachatrian
“I suppose the two countries’ foreign ministries will meet to talk it over and
will come to an understanding,” Civil Contract’s Khachatrian said.
“I don’t think that the Foreign Ministry should publish the contents of every
document. What was said is as much as could be said,” he added.
Meanwhile, a phone call between Pashinian and Russian President Vladimir Putin
was reported on Monday.
The Armenian prime minister’s office did not specifically mention the issue of
peacekeepers as being discussed by the two leaders. It only said that “issues
related to the situation around Nagorno-Karabakh, as well as ensuring security
on the Armenian-Azerbaijani border were discussed.”
“In this context, the importance of the full implementation of all the
agreements of the leaders of Armenia, Russia and Azerbaijan of November 9, 2020,
January 11, and November 26, 2021 was reaffirmed,” the brief statement said.
Talking to RFE/RL’s Armenian Service last week, political analyst Tatul
Hakobian, referring to Pashinian’s statements made during a cabinet meeting on
August 4, described the language used by the Armenian side as “primitive
blackmail.” But blackmail, he warned, is far from being the best tool in dealing
with Russia. “We want to get rid of one thing, but have nothing to replace it
with,” he said.
Gegham Manukian, a member of the opposition Hayastan parliamentary faction, said
it was not clear to him how the Armenian side sees the way of raising the
effectiveness of the Russian peacekeeping operation in Nagorno-Karabakh. But he
outlined his faction’s vision for that: “We should first discuss the issue of
raising the number of Russian peacekeepers [deployed in Nagorno-Karabakh].
Secondly, we should reconsider the way the Russian force is deployed in separate
directions. The Armenian side’s initiative of mirrored withdrawals, even if
implemented, should be done in conditions of full control so as to avoid
situations similar to what happened in the village of Parukh [in March] and in
the northwestern part of Artsakh [Nagorno-Karabakh – ed.] in recent days.”
Manukian would not comment on Pashinian’s statement regarding the possibility of
considering “additional international mechanisms” if solutions within the
Russian-Armenian-Azerbaijani format fail. He said that the statement was not
clearly formulated and could be just a “word game”, while there is no official
information to suggest this is a realistic plan.
Protesters in front of the Russian embassy in Yerevan demand that Russian
peacekeepers “properly carry out” their mission in Nagorno-Karabakh, August 5,
2022.
A multination international peacekeeping operation was discussed as part of the
Nagorno-Karabakh peace process before the 2020 war. But after Russia brokered a
ceasefire between Armenia and Azerbaijan to put an end to six weeks of bloodshed
in the conflict zone, the other two OSCE Minsk Group co-chairs – the United
States and France – welcomed Moscow’s peacekeeping operation, although U.S.
President Donald Trump talked about the possibility of deploying ‘Scandinavian
peacekeepers’ in the region during the war itself.
Swedish journalists recently revealed that one week before the Moscow-brokered
ceasefire was signed, on November 2, 2020, the U.S. co-chair of the OSCE Minsk
Group, Andrew Schofer, discussed such a possibility with Swedish officials.
Though, according to the media investigation, that proposal was rejected by
Stockholm.
In the wake of the recent escalation in Nagorno-Karabakh a small group of
Armenians displaced from the region by the 2020 war and its consequences
picketed the Russian embassy in Yerevan demanding that Russian peacekeepers
“properly carry out” their mission. They also staged rallies in front of the
embassies of France and the United States as well as the United Nations office
in Yerevan, calling for an international peacekeeping operation in
Nagorno-Karabakh.
Armenia Rejects Claims Of Involvement In Greek Surveillance Scandal
• Gevorg Stamboltsian
Armenian Ambassador to Greece Tigran Mkrtchian (file photo).
Armenia has categorically denied any involvement in a surveillance scandal in
Greece that has led to the resignation of the country’s intelligence chief as
well as top prime minister’s aide.
Reports emerged on Saturday of Panagiotis Kontoleon, the former head of Greece’s
National Intelligence Service who resigned on Friday, alleging that the Armenian
and Ukrainian intelligence services had requested the surveillance of Nikos
Androulakis, leader of the socialist opposition PASOK party.
In response to the claim covered in local media, Tigran Mkrtchian, Armenia’s
Ambassador to Greece, called it a “shameless lie”, stressing that “Armenia has
never asked any government to listen to anyone’s phone.”
Ukraine’s Ambassador to Greece Sergii Shutenko also rejected the allegations
about Kyiv’s involvement.
The most high-profile scandal in Greece’s domestic politics in recent years came
to light last week after Androulakis, who is also an MEP, revealed that the
European Parliament’s cyber security service had informed him that a spyware
called Predator had been installed on his phone.
A few days before that, the head of the Greek special service admitted during a
closed parliamentary hearing that spyware had been installed on the phone of a
journalist working for media network CNN Greece.
In an address to the nation on Monday, Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis
distanced himself from the scandal, saying that he did not know that the
National Intelligence Service had bugged the phone of a rival politician.
Turkey Warns Armenia Against ‘New Provocations’
• Armen Koloyan
Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu (file photo).
Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu has called on Armenia to “refrain from
new provocations” several days after Yerevan and Baku traded accusations over an
escalation of violence in Nagorno-Karabakh that left at least three people dead.
Speaking at a gathering of Turkish diplomats in Ankara on Monday, Cavusoglu
reportedly also reiterated his country’s vision of peace in the South Caucasus
region.
“After the end of the war [in Karabakh], Turkey is making efforts to ensure
peace in the region. Now we are talking not about Azerbaijan’s occupied
territories, displaced people, refugees and a conflict that can start again at
any moment, but about regional peace and cooperation. We again call on Armenia
to refrain from participating in new provocations [against Azerbaijan in
Karabakh],” Cavusoglu said.
On August 3, ethnic Armenian authorities in Nagorno-Karabakh said that two
Armenian soldiers were killed and nearly two dozen others wounded in what they
described as an attack by Azerbaijani forces against their military positions
along the Lachin corridor conducted with the use of drones, mortars and grenade
launchers.
Baku, for its part, said that an operation codenamed ‘Retribution’ was launched
by its forces after one Azerbaijani soldier was killed by ethnic Armenian forces
in the area on August 1.
Azerbaijan also claimed to have captured some strategic heights in the
mountainous region overlooking the corridor linking Nagorno-Karabakh with
Armenia that has been controlled by Russian peacekeepers since the end of a
deadly 2020 war in which Baku managed to regain control of large swaths of
territories in and around the disputed region.
Nagorno-Karabakh’s ethnic Armenian leader Arayik Harutiunian ordered a “partial
mobilization” of army reservists in the wake of the incidents, but the situation
did not further escalate amid reported agreements that Armenians would be
leaving several villages along the Lachin corridor that are to be handed over to
Azerbaijan as part of the 2020 Russian-brokered ceasefire agreement.
Despite what appears to be de-escalation that had also been urged by the United
States and the European Union, the situation in and around Nagorno-Karabakh
still remains relatively tense as Armenians and Azerbaijanis continue to accuse
each other of regular ceasefire violations.
Armenia said that one of its soldiers was wounded along the border with
Azerbaijan on Saturday, a claim denied by Azerbaijan, but confirmed by the
Russian Defense Ministry in its latest news bulletin on the Nagorno-Karabakh
peacekeeping operation.
Turkey, which is Azerbaijan’s top military and political ally, has been engaged
in a normalization process with Armenia since late last year. Ankara, however,
has made it clear that establishing diplomatic relations and opening borders
with Armenia depends on Yerevan’s accepting Baku’s key demands. Commenting on
prospects for normalizing Turkish-Armenian relations in July, Turkish Foreign
Minister Cavusoglu said that Yerevan should specifically negotiate a peace
accord sought by Baku and open a land corridor to Azerbaijan’s Nakhichevan
exclave.
Reposted on ANN/Armenian News with permission from RFE/RL
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