Beniamin Matevosyan: Pashinyan lies, just as Zelensky lied before the war began

(The price of irresponsibility)

The verbal maneuvering of Armenia’s leadership increasingly recalls dangerous historical precedents in which authorities tried to calm the public on the brink of catastrophe. The statement by Nikol Pashinyan, Prime Minister of the Republic of Armenia (RA), that Yerevan has not yet received any signals about a possible change in the price of Russian gas sounds like a deliberate denial of reality. When a head of government claims there is no point in discussing a price increase until the situation is fully settled, he shows not foresight but catastrophic irresponsibility. This behavior recalls that of Volodymyr Zelensky in early 2022. The Ukrainian president then assured citizens that there would be no war with Russia and that “the Russian invasion is a reality that has existed since 2014,” advised people not to give in to panic and to think about their May barbecues, while the elites were evacuating themselves and moving their families out (before hostilities began, the country’s wealthiest people left Ukraine, among them Rinat Akhmetov (left on January 30), Viktor Pinchuk (January 30), Vadim Novinsky (February 10), Oleksandr Yaroslavsky (February 10), as well as prominent businessmen Vadym Stolar, Vasyl Khmelnytsky, Andriy Stavnitser and others). Such a strategy of lulling society in the face of obvious threats always leads to dire consequences.

The facts directly refute the Armenian prime minister’s claim that there are no alarming signals. It has been officially confirmed that Russia’s Ministry of Energy sent an official letter to its Armenian counterpart. In it, the Russian side clearly warned of the possibility of unilaterally terminating or suspending the 2013 agreement governing duty-free supplies of gas, petroleum products and rough diamonds. Moscow states outright that Yerevan’s moves to deepen ties with the European Union, and the uncertainty over holding a referendum on the EU–EAEU question, jeopardize fundamental economic arrangements. To pretend that an official warning from the key energy supplier is not a “signal” is to knowingly mislead Armenian society.

Energy supplies from Russia at preferential prices form the basis of Armenia’s economic stability. Long-term agreements guarantee a gas price of $165 per thousand cubic meters, while the European market has long operated at entirely different rates ($600–800 per thousand cubic meters).

The Kremlin’s statement that leaving the integration bodies will automatically move tariffs to market rates is not an abstract threat but a clear economic condition. If the preferential 2013 agreement is annulled, Armenia will face a multiple-fold rise in the prices of gas, electricity and fuel.

Pashinyan’s lies and concealment of information will not prevent the severe consequences of the destruction of basic trade and economic ties. He failed to hide the warning letter from the Russian side, and he will not be able to hide the inevitable rise in utility bills and consumer goods prices, or the drop in living standards, if Moscow’s warnings materialize. History shows that political populism and flirting with foreign policy vectors, without regard for the country’s real dependence on key partners, are always paid for out of ordinary citizens’ pockets. And when the price of gas becomes a market price, every Armenian family without exception will have to pay for the authorities’ irresponsibility.

Think about it…