In Tsaghkadzor, the international conference on the role of NGOs in forming the Eurasian Union is held in the hotel owned by the PAP leader Gagik Tsarukyan which has been initiated by the union of Armenian-Russian NGOs. The leader of this union of the PAP leader. It was announced that Putin’s message will be published during the conference.
No doubt the conference will be used for the PAP campaign. It goes without saying. After all, everyone wants to make their campaign more impressive, and Tsarukyan will try to convey that Russia backs him. In terms of sovereignty this is unacceptable but for the Armenian political field it is not a surprise.
There is another essential point – the issue of the Eurasian Union. Its godfather Putin has never hidden his vision of this Union as a modern model of the Soviet Union. One can imagine what could be modern for Putin judging by the current society in Russia. In Putin’s totalitarian “sovereign democracy” one is as free as Putin wants, and those who want to be more free appear in prison, exile or the border of their freedom is drawn by OMON from time to time.
Hence, the Prosperous Armenia Party and its conference express their position on restoring the USSR which stands for Putin’s plan of loss of sovereignty of Armenia. In fact, PAP supports this plan.
It is interesting to know Vartan Oskanian’s attitude who acts against political monopoly and for political and economic modernization. Oskanian is a skilled diplomat and knows what the Eurasian Union is and what the ultimate product created by Putin with his 12 years of political monopoly and Nazarbayev with his 20 years of monopoly in Kazakhstan claiming the status of father of the Eurasian Union with Putin can be.
Can Vartan Oskanian imagine that the Eurasian Union will be a more modern and democratic structure guaranteeing the freedom of individuals and the country than Russia and Kazakhstan?
Or is this a pre-election reverence to Russia and after the elections the PAP will adopt a more pragmatic political stance in line with the economic and political challenges facing Armenia?
Although it is not ruled out that PAP and Vartan Oskanian do not share opinions. Nevertheless, the situation is too serious for this duality and most probably there is no disagreement and there is a skillfully drafted pre-election strategy.
In the pre-election period the Republicans also played the Russian game promoting interviews of Tigran Sargsyan with his pro-West image with Russian mass media in which he was trying to assure that Moscow is the primary ally to Armenia. At the same time, Tigran Sargsyan focused on the economic aspect of the Eurasian Union and noted that it is not expedient for Armenia to enter this union without a common border with it.
In fact, official Yerevan speaks about it cautiously, knowing that the European Union will dislike it with which the negotiations on FTA and visa facilitation have been launched. The European Union conveys to Yerevan that the EU and the Eurasian Union are incompatible and mutually exclusive.
At the same time, Serzh Sargsyan is trying to insure himself and took Artashes Geghamyan on the Republican ticket who has absolute support for the Eurasian Union. It is possible that Sargsyan tried to balance the situation and by encouraging the relationship with the EU through practical and pragmatic policy he uses Geghamyan’s fiery speeches for their moral effect on Russia, as well as the possible PAP advantage regarding this issue.
Everything is clear about the other forces running for parliament. The bloc of the Heritage and the Free Democrats is the only force which brings up the necessity to leave the Soviet and Russian system and seek for development in the western civilization.
In this regard, the Armenian National Congress has not expressed a clear stance. Instead, it makes clear hints to Russia. Namely, the Congress often criticizes the Western institutions for insufficient rigidness and consistency in dealing with Armenia. Instead, it makes loyal pronouncements addressed to Russia. For instance, ahead of Putin’s election Lyudmila Sargsyan, the leader of one of the parties of the Congress, called on the Armenians to vote for Putin. The Congress did not criticize her behavior, noting that it was not the official stance of the Congress. Later in April 20 rally Levon Ter-Petrosyan brought the example of Russian Duma with its pocket opposition to illustrate the behavior of the Congress in the next parliament rather than any other country with developed parliamentarian culture and tradition.
At the same time, there is an obvious disagreement between the Republic Party and the rest of the Congress. The leader of this party Aram Sargsyan openly supports the pro-West political and civil development. By the way, he is in Brussels and takes almost no part in the campaign of the Congress.
The stance of the ARF Dashnaktsutyun is more uncertain. It seems that this party should have a pro-West stance because a significant part of the history of the ARF-D was located in the Western civilization. At the same time, the ARF leaders were said at different times to have cooperated with the Soviet and Bolshevist system and the Soviet KGB.
The present ARF-D is different from the former ARF-D. The present one first of all differs by its personal pragmatism rather than party pragmatism. Accordingly, most ARF leaders have received business quotas. And it means that if they do determine the political position of the ARF-D, then the starting point is mercantile interest. For its part, it means that the ARF-D will officially follow a society where its capital will be more secure and profitable. And since the situation is highly relative, the ARF takes its time and keeps relative uncertainty.
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