‘It will not affect Russia at all’: Franz Klintsevich on Armenia’s accession to ‘the Magnitsky-style law’

Speaking with Alpha News, Russian politician and ex-senator of the Federation Council Franz Klintsevich commented on Armenia’s accession to ‘the Magnitsky-style law.’

“It is a big foolishness. It means nothing to Russia as a whole. It’s really nothing terrible for the state. Like a drop in the ocean. The thing is that you can see what is happening now with Ukraine, which has dominated headlines for so long. Soon, it will just be hated. It will cause irritation because of what is being done and how it is treated.

Armenia is the second on its way. Well, you have made such a decision yourself. They will take their citizens’ money. Anyway this money was from Russia and, as a rule, illegally earned,” Klintsevich said.

According to the ex-senator, the Armenian Prime Minister is not independent in his actions and takes all his steps with the instructions of his supervisors.

“Pashinyan was harshly told: if you want to have some further perspective, freedom, and live freely with the money that you have earned somewhere, then do as we tell you! Pashinyan has long revealed himself as a person who is absolutely not independent,” the politician stressed.

Klintsevich believes that Nikol Pashinyan’s ambiguous and unstable behavior, especially amid the recent visit of Russia’s Deputy Prime Minister Alexey Overchuk to Armenia, is due to the bias of the political leadership of Armenia.

“The very arrival of Overchuk, followed by the constructive conversation, was a signal that Russia is trying to maintain these relations, that this is very important for Armenia. But, as you can see, the signals were not understood. And why did this happen? Because there is no state sovereignty or independence in the political leadership of Armenia. Well, to be objective, I’ll tell you honestly, Pashinyan is a potential traitor to me. Initially, he came to power as a traitor with the corresponding intentions and continued to be used by those Western forces that are not working against Armenia—they do not care about Armenia and its people—they are working only to create a destructive process and discredit Russia,” Klintsevich concluded.