“If, God forbid, Nikol declared himself prime minister after June 7, then on behalf of Armenia, he will donate a certain share of TRIPP to Azerbaijan and Turkey,” RPA Vice President Armen Ashotyan said a little while ago, referring to the one-hour visit of US Secretary of State Marco Rubio to the Republic of Armenia and the pending bilateral documents signed here.
Armen Ashotyan said that Marco Rubio signed 3 documents with Armenia during his visit that lasted less than 1 hour, so he wants to briefly present important nuances and issues related to those 3 documents, which were left out of the opposition’s speech.
Speaking about the RA-US framework memorandum on supply assurance in the field of extraction and processing of important minerals and rare minerals, Armen Ashotyan said:
“At first glance, the general policy of the USA is the priority in relation to rare earth minerals and metal minerals – to have the whole world supply, etc. At first glance, it may seem that this document is against Russia or China, in fact, there is a very interesting nuance here.
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The main, important mineral in Armenia is molybdenum, which our country has 7% of the world’s reserves, and 7% of the world’s molybdenum is near us, mainly in Syunik. According to open sources, the main consumer of this mineral is neither Russia nor China, the main consumer of this mineral is the countries of the European Union. Yes, according to the agreement signed with Washington, Armenia actually undertakes the obligation to sell and direct its rare metals and minerals to the USA in fact, at the expense of the European Union, because the No. 1 market is Belgium, Holland and a number of other countries,” detailed Armen Ashotyan, continuing that with that document Washington actually wants to take away Armenian molybdenum from Brussels. The RPA vice-president described this phenomenon as the paradox of this document.
RPA Vice President Armen Ashotyan also referred to another document, the RA-US comprehensive strategic partnership charter.
According to him, this is an interesting document because the Biden administration signed a “Strategic Partnership Charter” with Armenia in the last days of its existence.
“This is a “Comprehensive strategic partnership document”. The textual analysis shows that there are, of course, some differences, because in this new document there is a clear reference to the Washington summit last year, a reference to TRIPP, etc., etc., that is, there is a little more specificity, related to nuclear reactors, etc., which was not in the Biden document.
But the problem is not only that, because the Trump administration likes, so to speak, to tune this or that direction received from Biden and make it unprecedented, here the word “comprehensive”, that is, the word “comprehensive” should not confuse you.
I especially want to draw your attention to the following. Therefore, “comprehensive” strategic partnership also implies clear cooperation in the security and defense spheres. It is thus comprehensive, that is, all spheres must be involved, including the security sphere, which is important for both the US and us.
However, when you open the 3rd section related to the security sector, we see that there is nothing serious, objective. The United States does not assume any obligation to ensure the defense and security of Armenia with this Comprehensive Strategic Partnership document, except for generously allowing Armenia to purchase American-made weapons in the future through appropriate mechanisms. In other words, this document does not envisage any serious impact on Armenia’s defense capability, security, there are no new guarantees, the USA does not undertake any obligations related to Armenia’s security and defense,” said Ashotyan.
He also detailed that the USA is also grateful to Armenia, that Armenia has its participation in global security topics: Afghanistan, Iraq, Kosovo, Lebanon, Mali. “The 2nd point of that 3rd block is very interesting, it is entirely about the political and military legacy left during and thanks to Serzh Sargsyan, because Afghanistan, Iraq, Kosovo, Lebanon, Mali, all these topics either started during Serzh Sargsyan’s rule, or continued, if I am not mistaken, only Afghanistan, which was done before that,” Ashotyan said.
He explained that in Section 3, which is called Security and Defense, no security guarantees are given to Armenia, which contradicts the concept of comprehensive partnership.
Referring also to the framework agreement on strategic cooperation regarding the third RA-USA “Trump’s Way for International Peace and Prosperity” project (TRIP), Ashotyan said that there are very serious threats here.
He noted that this document confirms his earlier concern that this project may turn into an Armenian-American-Azerbaijani, Armenian-American-Turkish project instead of an Armenian-American project.
“There is no prohibition for the parties to resell or in any other way transfer their shares of TRIPP to third parties with this new document. Moreover, a mechanism is provided for how the parties, if they want to transfer those portions to other parties, should resolve this issue.
“Problem one, this agreement emphasizes our concern that this TRIPP project will not remain Armenian-American. It is obvious with this agreement that the parties can transfer their actions to 3rd parties by mutual consent. It is obvious, isn’t it, that Turkey and Azerbaijan stand first among those 3rd parties.
Yes, agreement is expected from Armenia, if Armenia agrees, it can happen. Does anyone doubt that if Turkey wants to buy it, or Azerbaijan, the Americans said, okay, the current authorities of Armenia will be able to say no?
In other words, “it is not an absolute guarantee that the redistribution of those actions will depend on the current authorities of Armenia”, on the contrary, it is one of the biggest threats, because this government is Turkish, pro-Turkish and pro-Turkish, and this is clear. Let me tell you more, I do not rule out that if, God forbid, Nikol declares himself the Prime Minister after June 7, then Nikol himself will give a certain share to Azerbaijan and Turkey on behalf of Armenia.
Remember these words of mine. If we did not prevent Nikol’s reproduction on June 7, then Nikol will redistribute our portion in TRIPP to Azerbaijan or Turkey, or resell it symbolically on behalf of all of us,” he said.
The next concern, according to him, is that the TRIPP corporation, which is created in parts, has the right to have subcontractors and decide to hire new parties for this or that operation, this or that function, this or that direction.
“Those new parties are called 3rd parties, it is also obvious here that they can be Turkish-Azerbaijani firms, companies, to which TRIPP Corporation will, so to speak, delegate certain powers and functions.
And those 3rd parties, for example, this or that Turkish company, or Azeri, will receive the same rights to ensure that function,” Ashotyan said, continuing that there is a window in which they can formally keep the Armenian-American project, but on the ground, reassign, delegate, order all functions to the Turkish or Azerbaijani parties.
“The next problem in this agreement is that, in fact, Armenia is really deprived of its own sovereignty over that territory. Armenia completely gives the rights related to that territory, except customs, tax, current, security, etc., to that corporation, where 74% is not Armenian.
In other words, to talk about sovereignty under this regime, which, apart from everything else, is ready to give our own land to another party, in front of our eyes, is just a joke, this is something equal to state treason, especially considering the fact that this agreement stipulates that if the provisions of the agreement contradict our laws, then this agreement is valid, if it does not contradict the Constitution.
Well, how Nikol wants to reshape, reshape our Constitution, if he remains in power, we all already know and imagine very well,” explained Armen Ashotyan.
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