Your trusted source

In an interview to Panorama.am on Tuesday, Khachik Galstyan, a senior member of the opposition Homeland Party, spoke about the threats to Armenia stemming from tensions between Russia and the West as well as the steps the Armenian authorities should take.

Panorama.am: Mr. Galstyan, in a lengthy interview, Homeland Party leader Artur Vanetsyan, referring to the ongoing tensions between Russia and the West, and in this context the Russian-Ukrainian conflict, addressed the possible risks and threats that these developments may pose for Armenia and the Armenian-Russian relations. What kind of risks and threats is it about?

Khachik Galstyan: As you have already said, Artur Vanetzian touched upon quite a broad range of international and domestic political issues in his interview. In particular, according to Vanetsyan, tensions between Russia and the West are the result of a long process which has led to this situation.

With respect to Russia, the West has consistently and over a fairly long period of time carried out such actions, which simply could not go unreacted. The continued expansion of NATO to the East, the American military presence right "under Russia's nose", support for Ukrainian ultranationalism, and the creation of anti-Russian sentiment in Ukraine have forced Russia to resort to preventive measures. Thus, from this perspective, Russia's steps are fully comprehensible.

After all, before launching a special military operation in Ukraine, Russian President Vladimir Putin tried to resolve the conflict through diplomacy, offering the West a "new security pact" and mutual guarantees, which, however, did not meet with the approval of the United States and its allies. Russia's actions should therefore clearly be seen as a manifestation of a defense strategy that declares its own national security to be of the highest value.

Panorama.am: In this context, how would you assess the response of the Armenian authorities and the consistency of their steps?

Khachik Galstyan: As I have already said, if in the case of Russia and, in general, in the case of any normal state, security is considered as the primary need, in the case of Armenia it is exactly the opposite. The current Armenian authorities have pushed security issues into the background; they are a headache for them. That is why they think that in case of renouncing Artsakh, giving up the protection of Armenia’s sovereign territories and borders and serving the Turkish-Azerbaijani agenda, security issues would become less severe and would be resolved automatically.

As Vanetsyan says, the actions of both Turkey and Azerbaijan are quite predictable; taking advantage of the escalation of tensions between Russia and Ukraine, they can embark upon fresh ventures, creating new hotbeds of tension in Artsakh and on the border with Armenia in an effort to try to get the most out of the situation, which we have been witnessing recently.

The fact that the Armenian authorities have no strategic thinking and lack basic knowledge of working with strategic partners, the fact that they have left millions of our compatriots in Armenia, Artsakh and the Diaspora to their fate are well-known truths.