Russia aggravates relations with Armenia

It was revealed on June 20 that the Russian Ambassador to Armenia Sergey Kopirkin met with the President of the RA Constitutional Court Hrayr Tovmasyan. This meeting took place in a very interesting and complicated domestic and foreign political context, and once again shows that in the Armenian-Russian relations, Moscow is inclined to protect specific interests of specific individuals.

Environment

On June 13, it became known that the Russian ambassador to Armenia met with Robert Kocharyan, who has warm relations with Russian President Vladimir Putin.

This was met by a tough response from the Armenian side, and the Russian ambassador was invited to the Foreign Ministry, where a conversation took place with him in the context of “not interfering with Armenia’s internal affairs.”

In fact, the Ambassador’s meeting with Hrayr Tovmasyan took place after this response by the Armenian side, but this is not the only remarkable aspect of this event. The whole charm of the incident is that at the moment of the meeting, the Constitutional Court President Hrayr Tovmasyan had a key role in Robert Kocharyan’s future as the case of Kocharyan and others could be sent to the Constitutional Court where the Constitutional Court would examine Kocharyan’s immunity and the issue of the applicability of the accusations brought against him. In other words, the Constitutional Court would be deciding whether or not Kocharyan is to remain in freedom.

However, on June 20, the National Assembly of Armenia elected Vahe Grigoryan judge of the Constitutional Court.  During his inaugural address, Grigoryan stated that he is assuming the powers of the President of the Constitutional Court, citing the constitutional crisis caused by legislative gaps.

In fact, Vahe Grigoryan’s statement means that Hrayr Tovmasyan’s powers are currently under question, which makes the Ambassador’s move somehow meaningless.

Consequences

In fact, Armenia has shown its attitude towards the meeting between Kocharyan and Russian Ambassador by using one of the toughest diplomatic tools and has made clear that it treats Moscow’s intervention in Armenia’s internal affairs negatively. However, the Russian side did not try to mitigate or explain the situation through any statement or other diplomatic means. It obviously ignored the Armenian side’s position, further aggravating the situation.

In other words, the events suggest that Russia is ready to test the Armenian-Russian allied relations at the current stage, not wishing to stand back from the chosen path. Moreover, with this logic of actions aimed at intervening in Armenia’s internal affairs, Russia may continue to ignore the impulses from Yerevan and even resort to tougher steps, but their consequences may be unpredictable for all sides.

Vahe Ghukasyan

“Union of Informed Citizens”