Russia applying 'soft power' tools 'to avoid tensions with Armenia' - analyst

12:24 • 19.08.19

Politics

In their unending attempts “to look more Catholic than the Pope”, the Armenian authorities cling repeatedly to the country’s developing alliance with Russia, claiming that it has improved significantly since last year's power transition processes, says political analyst.

In an interview with Tert.am, Gagik Hambaryan particularly shared his concerns over the Russian law enforcement authorities’ decision to reject the extradition of Mihran Poghosyan, a former chief of the Justice Ministry’s Compulsory Enforcement Service.

“Just in order to look more Catholic than the Pope himself, our authorities state repeatedly that the Armenian-Russian relations are much better now than they used to be. I would highly desire that scenario, but it is far from the reality,” he said, adding that “no high-ranking Russian official visited Armenia” over the past one year and three months since the "Velvet Revolution".

“No need to refer to [Russian Prime Minister Dmitry] Medvedev’s arrival in Yerevan, as his visit was part of the EAEU agenda (vs. the Armenian-Russian relations). He had come to attend the EAEU session,” Hambaryan noted.

The analyst said he also thinks that Russia has now adopted a kind of wait-and-see approach “until the Armenian society overcomes the state of euphoria to give a sober evaluation” to the current government’s work and the current level of the Armenian-Russian relations.

“Russia is exercising ‘soft power’ in relation to Armenia in an effort to avoid any tension in the bilateral relations. It is avoiding steps potentially threatening hazards. We are aware that the balance was disrupted in a way under the former authorities. And it is disrupted now too – in favor of the official Moscow,” he said, noting that members of the Russian military base can now feel absolutely free to launch drills in an Armenian village ″without any prior notice to the government″.

As implicit manifestations of the “soft power” tools, the expert cited the Russian authorities’ decision not to raise the transit prices of natural gas for Armeniam consumers, as well as the tolerant attitude to the Armenian employment migrants in the country (to avoid any obstacles). “Hundreds of thousands of Armenian citizens annually go to Russia to work. Just think of what could happen should they be returned to Armenia. That will provoke a mounting social rebellion. But they [the Russian authorities] avoid doing that, opting instead for ‘soft power’.”

Hambaryan noted that the Russian Prosecutor General’s Office issued its official decision rejecting Poghosyan's handover shortly after the visit by Nikolay Patrushev, the secretary of the Russian Security Council, to Armenia. “Russia thus demonstrated its discontent with the ongoing negotiations with the Armenian authorities. No matter the Armenian authorities’ attempts to insist that this is a ‘criminal’ case, we need the clear understanding that the topic has a political pretext for Russia. This is a clear-cut message revealing Russia’s discontent. As for Russia’s failure to explain any reasons behind the rejection to extradite Poghosyan, that also testifies to the low, somewhat unequal level of the Armenian-Russian relations. Russia does not care about giving explanations at all as to why they are unwilling to hand over [the former official]. What their statement suggests is that they are simply unwilling to do that,” he added.