Mikhail Zvinchuk: Armenia is the most successful project to cultivate Russophobia

Armenia is the most successful project to cultivate Russophobia, and the crisis in Russian–Armenian relations is something “man-made,” the work of outside intervention, which requires a strong-willed decision on both sides to resist.

Mikhail Zvinchuk, founder and head of the Rybar analytical project, said this in an interview with Alpha News, referring to the current Russian-Armenian relations.

According to Zvinchuk, both sides should first be willing to return these relations to their former allied course.

“Due to the lack of action on our part, it seems that there are certain circles in Russia who do not care what happens in the region. Unfortunately, the saying that it takes long for the ‘Russian bear’ to wake up is true.

We have formed ‘a belt of false alliances’ among the post-Soviet countries. We had the same problems before with Ukraine, Moldova, the Baltic States, and Georgia. Everywhere you look, there is an opinion that Russia is bad. Unfortunately, Armenia has not become an exception, because in 30 years, a whole generation has grown up that does not accept and does not perceive Russia.

For them, Russia is a thing of the past, a kind of atavism. And Armenia is an advanced country that must move forward. They don’t care that there is a lot of Russian money on the territory of Armenia, which has flowed there along with business; a lot of connections have been built around existing agreements, and people are also tied to each other. People just have a picture in their heads that ‘Russia is bad’,” Zinchuk said.

According to him, all this was formed for a reason; huge amounts of money were spent on it.

“USAID recognizes that Armenia is the most successful project to cultivate Russophobia. The work of our opponent against us is being conducted quite successfully. Someone turns a blind eye to this and says that we’re good. I personally don’t think so. The scandals and problems that have surfaced in our political sphere over the past six months are clear confirmation of this.

For example, the Armenian authorities say that they do not need CSTO and that it did not help in any way. Then documents emerged, confirming that assistance was offered through the CSTO and that Armenia was offered a peacekeeping mission. But the Armenian authorities did not want this,” Zvinchuk said.

According to him, there are quite a lot of such examples. And what is happening is something “man-made,” the work of outside intervention.

“Now it seems that the relationship is really at a certain pre-terminal stage, when something can still be reversed, but for this it is necessary to make a strong-willed decision,” the expert added.