US “soft power” and attempts to discredit Russia are not successful in Armenia. Ghukasyan

It’s no secret that agents of foreign influence are actively working in Armenia today, regularly promoting all new methods of soft power. The interests of these agents can and mostly do not coincide with the real interests of Armenia. They show great interest in Armenian youth, with whom hundreds of NGOs and foundations are actively working. About this “Armenia-Russia strategic alliance. realities and modern challenges” announced Arman Ghukasyan, president of International Humanitarian Development NGO, during the “brainstorming session”.

According to him, countries such as the USA, the EU, partly China and Russia actively use soft power in Armenia today. If in the case of China and Russia, soft power is perceived as an opportunity to present their culture to other nations and build bilateral relations based on it, then in the case of the US and the EU, it is considered a tool of general influence and manipulation to carry out their foreign policy tasks and establish dominance over this or that country. Today, the West, particularly the United States, has set itself the task of continuing to be a world leader and radically eliminating others in the world the possibility of emerging strong players who will gradually bring the world to the final multi-polarization,” he said.

According to Ghukasyan, it is wrong to say that the world is unipolar today, as it was after the collapse of the USSR, but to say that the USA has stopped being a world leader and no longer dictates its will to other countries of the world would be naive. If the US is no longer able to make the world its own testing ground, Russia and China have contributed greatly to this. These two powerful countries have started to pursue their policies which are based on the real interests of their countries. The speaker noted that the USA does not like this, which does not miss the opportunity to create problems for Russia in particular. And based on this logic, between the West and Russia serious confrontations continue, accompanied by economic wars and civilizational clashes.

“As a result of this conflict, the countries on the line of contact between the West and Russia faced the risk of destabilization. The goal of the US is to create as many problems as possible for Russia so that the latter cannot solve them. Ultimately, the US aims to weaken Russia and narrow the scope of its interests. The South Caucasus is not left behind, particularly Armenia, as our country is considered Russia’s strategic ally in the region. The main goal of the forces that are not positive towards the Armenian-Russian alliance is to destroy the reliable and lasting relations between the two countries in such a way that they will never be possible. restore. The focus of the attacks are the issues of military-political cooperation between the two countries, they put forward such statements that Armenia can have its place in the Western system, which will serve as an alternative for active development, security of statehood, etc. It is obvious that the West is actively working to change the mindset of the Armenian society. By discrediting the image of Russia among the youth of society, the West can cut off Armenia from Russia and transform the entire region in favor of its interests. Of course, this will be done at the expense of Armenian interests, which may prove difficult in the situation. Today’s Ukraine can serve as such an example,” he said.

According to the figure, the methods used by the West to apply soft power are quite diverse. Western grants are used in all directions: state institutes, mass media, university system, regions. Moreover, there are many NGOs in Armenia that are funded by the USA and the EU. Hundreds of NGOs are registered, which actively work against Armenian-Russian relations, EAEU and CSTO. According to the speaker, only the “Open Society – Armenia” foundation (Sororsi Foundation) supports anti-Russian propaganda in the country, financing 60-70 NGOs, including various mass media.

“The working methods of pro-Western propagandists in Armenia are as follows. The information resources of Armenia, which have foreign funding, set themselves the goal of discrediting Armenia’s Eurasian direction, as well as distorting the essence of Armenian-Russian relations. Armenian pro-Western websites present only pro-EU opinions and comments to the target audience and do not provide a platform for supporters of Eurasian integration. Thus, these websites are considered to be carriers of one-sided and non-objective information. In addition, most of the negative information with discrediting elements mainly refers to Russia, the CSTO and EAEU, these information resources connect all the problems of Armenia with the EAEU and Russia and are silent about the advantages of joining this integration block,” he listed.

However, Arman Ghukasyan is sure that despite the influence of foreign agents, which is aimed at discrediting the image of Russia, there are still literate young people in Armenia who are capable of delving into the facts and not giving in to speculation and manipulation.

“I think that these days it is very important to continue intensive contact between the youth of EAEU and CIS countries, as well as it is necessary to organize more joint events, which will be aimed at revealing the methods of manipulation, which aim to influence the way of thinking of the youth of the post-Soviet countries,” he added.