Opposition politician: Internal problems of Armenia are continuation of its foreign policy

Arminfo, Armenia
July 3 2020

ArmInfo.  The internal affairs and  problems of Armenia, like in many other similar countries, are a  continuation of their foreign policy, Chairman of the European Party  of Armenia Tigran Khzmalyan expressed a similar opinion to ArmInfo.

"In this particular case, we are talking about the third stage in the  weakening of Russia in the last 100 years – this time Putin's Russia.  The process of collapse of the management system is underway, and  it's quite fast. It's clear that Moscow is trying to defend its  position through special services and the internal network operating  in Armenia. People have been nurtured in Armenian political parties,  special services, and other bodies for years, who are going to be  very useful to Russia today. And without considering this fact, it's  impossible to understand what is happening in Armenia today, "he  emphasized.

According to the politician, today Russia is losing ground not only  in Armenia, but also around the world.  In other words, what happened  with the USSR 30 years ago is happening with the Russian Federation  today. In this light, he noted the significant economic problems of  Russia, caused by another sharp drop in energy prices. At the same  time, like the late Soviet Union, Russia was drawn into wars in  distant countries, this time in Syria and Libya. In addition, Moscow  is trying to wage and unleash hybrid wars – in Ukraine and other  post-Soviet countries, including Armenia.

In this light, Khzmalyan considers the memoranda of some Armenian  parties with United Russia, as well as the statements of their  leaders, only the tip of the iceberg. A much bigger problem, in his  opinion, is the illusion according to which there are many political  parties in Armenia. In reality, according to the estimates of the  politician, there are only 3-4 national, democratic parties in the  country. The rest just represent the interests of Russian special  services.

On July 2, the leader of the Prosperous Armenia party, Gagik  Tsarukyan, expressed concern about the "artificial aggravation of  anti-Russian sentiment in Armenia," blaming the anti-Armenian,  anti-state forces for this, trying to break the friendly ties between  the two peoples. "As the chairman of the country's largest opposition  political force, as a citizen, I will do everything possible to  suppress provocations aimed at forming anti-Russian sentiments in our  country," Tsarukyan said.

"Let's call a spade a spade. The former presidents in reality were  residents and were engaged in nothing more than trading in  sovereignty. In return, they got the opportunity to remain at power.  This is a short formula of what happened before 2018. And,  unfortunately, the authorities that succeeded them failed to change  these sad realities. The process is underway, but I assess it as  somewhat late. Over the past three decades, Armenia has stagnated,  serving the interests of Russia, while neighboring countries are  developing political and economic relations with the civilized world,  " Khzmalyan concluded.