Today it is hard to call Russian-Armenian relations truly allied, says Russian MP

Speaking with Alpha News, Russian MP Konstantin Zatulin commented on bilateral relations between Armenia and Russia by the end of 2023 and noted that current relations leave much to be desired and it is quite hard to call them truly allied.

“I would like the relations to be much better, so that by this New Year we would have the opportunity to congratulate each other on the development of relations between our countries, but unfortunately, I cannot do this. The past year has been tragic for Nagorno-Karabakh and the Armenian population. I am sure that reasonable people in Armenia, and not only in Armenia but also here in Russia, all over the world, where Armenians live, are hard going through this. This is a very complex story.

As for Russian-Armenian relations, all this year, we have watched how the Armenian leadership is shifting all their problems, including reputational ones, onto Russia. The leadership played with the emotions and feelings of the Armenian people to remove responsibility from themselves and declare Russia to blame for everything that happened, which I cannot agree with. I myself see the flaws in Russia’s actions and the lack of its capabilities. This would mean that Armenia is simply not an independent, not a sovereign country that is not responsible for its actions. And the actions of Armenia are that Armenia has officially abandoned, and continues, by the way, to abandon its compatriots from Nagorno-Karabakh.
Over 100,000 people were forced to leave their homes and flee to Armenia. We can all imagine the dangers, difficulties and hardships this step was associated with. We know that at least a quarter of this number of people have already left Armenia. It seems to me that the Armenian authorities, fearing these people, are doing everything to encourage them to leave Armenia.

As you know, I have been banned from entering Armenia for a year and a half now, but I, of course, keep in touch with those who have the opportunity to travel to Armenia or have been there recently. Now I see that Yerevan is thriving, at least it looks like this. The economy is on the rise, also due to the fact that Russia, subject to 17,000 sanctions, today has invested, let’s say, both people and money in Armenia. Our fellow citizens moved to Armenia from Russia, bringing with them their opportunities and their money. And all this taken together, including parallel imports, has become a kind of booster for the Armenian economy.

Despite the fact that it would seem that Armenia’s objective interest should be to build up relations with Russia, the Armenian government divided its task into two parts. Politically, it distances itself more and more from Russia and demonstrates its desire to break off relations with the CSTO and the Eurasian Economic Union. Armenia does not attend the general events. At the same time, it travels around Western capitals, establishing relations with the collective West and individual Western countries, including those that, as they say, are ‘ahead of the rest’ in terms of Russophobia. Armenia receives the Prime Minister of Estonia, meets with Zelensky, and so on. Of course, today one cannot dare to call the relations between Russia and Armenia truly allied,” Zatulin concluded.