Category: 2022

ArmInfo. A change of power in Armenia is ruled out at the present stage. It is only possible in case a new political force is formed that would be able to establish  horizontal relations with the incumbent authorities, political  scientist Stepan Danielyan said in an interview with ArmInfo. 

"The parliamentary opposition is splintered. The Armenia and With  Honor factions have disagreements over a number of issues. Parties  holding diametrically opposite views of the domestic political  situation are in the opposition camp as well. Among other things,  various control centers within the opposition are assessing the  situation in various ways, implementing different policies," Mr  Danielyan said. 

In this context, he does not rule out some events in, for example,  the Armenia-Turkey normalization process could happen the opposition  is not ready to assume the responsibility for. So it is waiting until  the incumbent authorities themselves complete the processes, after  which the opposition will started working to change power in Armenia. 

The opposition will not restrict itself to rallies and street act of  disobedience. And the street actions must never become an end in  itself. It is the opposition's political agenda and goals that are  much more important. Without that the opposition will not resolve the  problem of power by holding rallies alone. 

"I do not think Armenia has domestic political life now, to saying  nothing of rivaling ideas or anything like that. The same, however,  cannot be said of foreign policy. Serious processes are now going on  round our country, which accounts for Armenia's further steps forced  on our state. And thee actual refusal of the Civil Contract faction  to unseat the opposition MPs is most probably is the result of  western influence – for the simple reason that such drastic steps  could be perceived as anti-democratic ones," Mr Danielyan said. 

ArmInfo. Prime Minister of Armenia Nikol Pashinyan received the Director of the Foreign Intelligence Service of the Russian Federation Sergey Naryshkin, the press service  of the RA PM reports.

The Prime Minister noted that Mr. Naryshkin's visit is another good  opportunity to discuss the issues on the agenda of the  Armenian-Russian allied relations. Nikol Pashinyan emphasized that  this year marks the 30th anniversary of the establishment of  diplomatic relations between the two countries and expressed  confidence that joint efforts will make the cooperation more  effective and stronger.

Sergey Naryshkin thanked for the warm reception and noted the  existance of the high-level political dialogue between Armenia and  Russia, which contributes to the development and strengthening of  cooperation in various fields.

The interlocutors discussed issues related to international and  regional security. Reference was made to the processes taking place  in the South Caucasus region.

Earlier, on July 15, Pashinyan received the Director of the US  Central Intelligence Agency, William Burns.  "The interlocutors  discussed issues of international and regional security and the fight  against terrorism.  The processes taking place in the South Caucasus  region were touched upon," the prime minister's press service said. 

ArmInfo.By and large, the further course of the Armenian-Turkish normalization is predetermined by geopolitics, and more precisely, by serious, regional geopolitical  players.  Political strategist Vigen Hakobyan expressed a similar  opinion to ArmInfo.

"In this sense, I would not focus on the content of certain  statements of the Armenian authorities. One way or another, our  authorities are not the main players in this process. Rather, they  are in the role of being led by the main beneficiaries and interested  parties of the Armenian-Turkish normalization. Negotiations are  ongoing – that's the main thing. Often contradictory statements from  Yerevan are also part of the technology of negotiation," he said.

According to the political strategist, the need to use such  technologies arises, in particular, in periods of need to appease  certain passions in society, as well as to distract some people's  attention from some internal processes. According to Hakobyan, as a  result of all this processes, the essence of what happened does not  change. The Armenian-Turkish processes are proceeding along a  pre-prepared geopolitical course.

Noting the scenario of the formalization of Armenian-Turkish  relations as predetermined by the main external players, the  political strategist, referring to a recent statement by  representative of the Russian Foreign Ministry Maria Zakharova,  points to the fact that the process was initially supervised by  Moscow.  Against this background, Hakobyan sees the existence of an  initially stipulated or accidental geopolitical consensus between the  main centers of power. It is in this light that he notes the lack of  counteraction to the Armenian-Turkish normalization by Russia, the  US, the UK and EU countries.  

The expert expressed the assumption that the only country that does  not like the Armenian-Turkish normalization is Iran. "Tehran is well  aware that relations with Turkey can be an alternative to relations  with Iran for Armenia, and, accordingly, there is a possibility that  the border with them may be closed if necessary. As Trump's national  security adviser John Bolton suggested to Pashinyan in 2018," the  political strategist summed up. 

The Armenian freestyle wrestling team will take part in an international tournament, which will be held on 20-24 July in Warsaw.

Manvel Khndzrtsyan (57 kg), Arsen Harutyunyan (61 kg), Vazgen Tevanyan (65 kg), Arman Andreasyan (70 kg), Hrayr Alikhanyan (74 kg) and Arman Avagyan (79 kg) will head to Warsaw.