Russia attacks Pashinyan's Armenia - Eklhan Shainoglu

Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan announced the convening of the first rally of his supporters after he was elected to the post by the decision of the Armenian parliament. Why would he rally on August 17? Is it really time to turn again to the people for help? What lies behind the sharp statement of the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation against Armenia? With these questions Turan turned to political scientist Elkhan Shainoglu.

- The rallies led Nikol Pashinyan to power. Now, instead of fulfilling the promised to the Armenian people, the Prime Minister again convenes the rally. What makes him again turn to the people?

- Nikol Pashinyan gathers a rally to celebrate 100-days of his premiership. August 17 will be 100-days of victory of Armenian democrats over Sargsyan's power. The rally will be held on the central square of Yerevan. I think his decision is justified, since Pashinyan needs the continuation of popular support after, firstly, weakened the Karabakh clan in Armenia by arresting General Manvel Grigoryan, knocking out economic support from the Sargsyan family, arresting the military and politicians on charges of corruption. But Nikol is at risk, since his opponents may want revenge, so Pashinyan needs a demonstration of popular support for his actions.

Pashinyan's second goal is connected with the fact that Moscow made him the first serious warning in connection with the arrest of the pro-Russian ex-president R. Kocharyan. In Armenia, CSTO Secretary General, Yury Khachaturov, was charged with overthrowing the constitutional order, and he was released from arrest only on bail. Moscow does not like what is happening, it can go to any provocation in Armenia. Pashinyan intends to protect his power with the help of protesters, so that Moscow will see the support of the people, and agree with this important factor. But in order to achieve the goal, Pashinyan needs to gather the same number of people as on the day of Sargsyan's overthrow.

- How does Armenia treat Russia? Pashinyan intends to fulfill all the whims of the Kremlin?

- An interesting fact was discovered in Armenia, which opens eyes to an important circumstance. It turns out that the most anti-Azerbaijani and anti-Türkic website in Yerevan, which publishes more information against the two countries, is financed by the command of the 102nd Russian military base in Gyumri. From the report of the youth scientific-educational fund "Zorakn", published on the official announcement website azdarar. am, it follows that his Razm.info news portal for military purposes in 2016 received about 100,000 rubles for providing a weekly review of electronic media materials of "some neighboring states". The author of the article in Regnum IA speaks about servicing the interests of the Russian military base. The article also says that in the periodically appearing news about Turkey or Azerbaijan, these countries are called "enemies", whereas "professional publications use the term" adversary ".

This fact once again shows how much Russia is not interested in normalizing relations between Azerbaijan and Armenia, Turkey and Armenia, in resolving the Karabakh problem. The Russian military needs that Azerbaijan and Turkey remain enemies of Armenia. Financing of the Yerevan site by the Russian military is nonsense, which opens one more mission of the 102nd Russian base in Gyumri. And the fact that it was disclosed by Armenians indicates the dissatisfaction of the Armenian side, tired of the excessive burden of enmity with neighboring states

Armenians understand the depth of their fall. The other day Zoya Tadevosyan, an Armenian politician close to Levon Ter-Petrosian's party, stated: "We occupied Azerbaijani lands." During the years of power of Serzh Sargsyan and Robert Kocharyan, this deputy could not say this. It can be seen that the policy of Nikola Pashinyan led the small forces in Armenia, aware of the importance and expediency of normalizing relations with Turkey and Azerbaijan. But Russia's intervention is again being traced: Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said that they are "concerned about what is happening in Armenia." This phrase, which followed the arrest of former president Kocharian, is expected.

- You follow the Russian media. How do they cover Pashinyan's actions?

- There is an interesting trend in the proprietary sites of Russia. These sites glorified Serzh Sargsyan and Robert Kocharyan for many years, lied about Azerbaijan, published countless "analyzes" against our country. Now these sites do not praise Armenia because they are unhappy with Pashinyan's policy and are furious with the arrests of Kocharyan and S. Sargsyan's entourage. The leaders and patrons of these sites were in a difficult situation: if as before they scold Azerbaijan, it will be for the benefit of the Pashinyan authorities, but they do not want websites like this. If they maintain official power in Armenia, as they did during the years of Sargsyan's and Kocharyan's power, then they will harm Russia's interests, as these sites are pro-Armenian, but to the same extent pro-Russian. Currently these media are gradually fueling a campaign of criticism against Pashinyan. As a result, yesterday's allies of Armenia forgot about Azerbaijan and began to resolve internal contradictions.