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  • Symbolism And Pragmatism: On The Results Of The Meeting Between The

    SYMBOLISM AND PRAGMATISM: ON THE RESULTS OF THE MEETING BETWEEN THE PRESIDENTS OF ARMENIA AND RUSSIA

    Politkom.ru
    Aug 9 2012
    Russia

    by Candidate of Historical Sciences Sergey Minasyan, leader of
    Yerevan's Caucasus Institute Department of Political Research

    Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan paid a working visit to Moscow 8
    August 2012 at the invitation of his Russian colleague Vladimir Putin.

    Enhanced Coverage LinkingVladimir Putin. -Search using:Biographies
    Plus NewsNews, Most Recent 60 DaysThe visit was highly symbolic
    whereas its results themselves demonstrated the pragmatism of
    the perception by the presidents of Armenia and Russia both of
    the directly bilateral relations between the two states and of the
    assessment of the large-scale geopolitical processes in the South
    Caucasus and adjoining regions.

    The symbolism was dictated, first and foremost, by the actual date of
    the visit, evidently proposed by the Russian side for reasons that are
    absolutely not coincidental. A meeting with the Armenian president
    specifically on the fourth anniversary of the start of the August
    "Five-Day War" between Russian and Georgia could have been dictated
    by Vladimir Putin's Enhanced Coverage LinkingVladimir Putin's -Search
    using:Biographies Plus NewsNews, Most Recent 60 Dayscharacteristic
    and distinctive sense of "political humour" and could also contain
    a certain, entirely unambiguous symbolism for all the countries
    of the South Caucasus. After all, in the perception of the current
    Kremlin boss (and not just him, furthermore), the August 2008 war
    is a distinctive symbolic turning point after which the decline
    in Russia's geopolitical influence in the post-Soviet area and the
    South Caucasus in particular was halted and even reversed. During
    the press conference on the results of the meeting with his Armenian
    colleague, Vladimir Putin Enhanced Coverage LinkingVladimir Putin
    -Search using:Biographies Plus NewsNews, Most Recent 60 Dayshimself
    confirmed the symbolism of the situation, delivering a series of
    "revelations" which were supposed to confirm his role in particular
    as prime minister in the adoption of the fateful decision on Russia's
    entry into the war with Georgia on the night of 7-8 August.

    However, the aim of the two presidents' meeting was not simply to
    deliver certain messages and "synchronize watches" on a broad range
    of current geopolitical and political questions. Even though it
    is obvious that the situation in Syria, for example, where there
    is a large Armenian community, primarily in this country's second
    most important city Aleppo, could not fail to be raised in the two
    presidents' conversation. There was also a discussion of the question
    of preserving peace and stability in the Karabakh conflict zone,
    prospects for the continuation of the negotiating process, and the
    possibility of the contribution to this of Russia, as a co-chairman of
    the Minsk OSCE group and the leading regional power. Of course, only
    the two presidents themselves and their immediate circle of advisers
    can know what else specifically they talked about and what they agreed
    on. However, from the subsequent comments of the presidents themselves
    and from media reports it is obvious that the sides managed to agree
    or bring their positions closer on a quite broad range of questions
    of mutual interest to relations between two strategic allies.

    In particular, there was an announcement on the coordination of
    the approach to the price-setting procedure for Russian gas for
    Armenia for the near future. It seems that prices for Russian energy
    resources will again remain comparatively favourable for Russia's
    only strategic ally in the South Caucasus. Similarly, there was an
    announcement on the attainment of new accords in the military-political
    and military-technical spheres including regarding the implementation
    of joint military-industrial projects. Questions of mutual relations
    within the framework of the CSTO were also discussed, particularly
    in the light of this organization's large-scale exercises that are
    expected at the start of September on Armenia's territory with the
    participation of subunits from all the military-political bloc's
    member countries.

    Pragmatism was also shown during the discussion of questions connected
    with cooperation within the framework of various integration projects
    in the post-Soviet area. In particular, it was announced that separate
    talks will be held with all the countries belonging to the Customs
    Union on the format and degree of cooperation with Armenia, which
    does not have a common border with the countries in question. In fact
    this means that the practical implementation of this question is being
    postponed fairly indefinitely. This is all the more remarkable given
    that even before the visit vague commentaries appeared in the press to
    the effect that the main theme of Putin's talks with Sargsyan would be
    the question of Armenia's participation in the Eurasian Union (Vladimir
    Putin Enhanced Coverage LinkingVladimir Putin -Search using:Biographies
    Plus NewsNews, Most Recent 60 Daysmade a statement on the need for
    the creation of this on the basis of the Customs Union and the Single
    Economic Area in one of his pre-election articles in October 2011). It
    was said that Moscow could place before official Yerevan the question
    of the choice between future membership of the Eurasian Union and
    the continuation of the processes of cooperation with the EU in the
    political, humanitarian, and economic spheres within the framework
    of the European Neighbourhood and Eastern Partnership programmes.

    However, at the same time the authors of publications of this kind,
    evidently, had simply not take into account such an obvious fact
    that the idea of the creation of such a supra-state formation on the
    territory of the former USSR is still a very long way from practical
    implementation and all talk of this kind at the present time is
    almost of a purely theoretical or ideological character. Even the
    broadest outlines of the Eurasian union (if in the future they go
    beyond the bounds of the inertia of the pre-election promises of former
    presidential candidate Vladimir PutinEnhanced Coverage LinkingVladimir
    Putin -Search using:Biographies Plus NewsNews, Most Recent 60 Days)
    are surely still unclear at the moment even to the Kremlin itself.

    Furthermore, the question of Armenia's participation in a
    political-economic union of this kind given the absence of common
    customs borders with any of the states potentially belonging to it is
    contrary to elementary logic -it only needs a fleeting glance at the
    map. Armenia is separated from the rest of the potential Eurasian Union
    by Georgia and Azerbaijan, with their quite specific relations with
    Moscow and Yerevan. It seems that these circumstances with a healthy
    level of pragmatism are entirely obvious to the leaders of Armenia
    and Russia, as the results of the 8 August visit also confirmed.

    During the meeting with Vladimir Putin, Enhanced Coverage
    LinkingVladimir Putin, -Search using:Biographies Plus NewsNews, Most
    Recent 60 DaysSerzh Sargsyan invited his Russian colleague to pay a
    state visit to Armenia at a time convenient to him. Whether Putin's
    visit to Armenia will take place in the near future, whether it will
    coincide with the CSTO exercises in this republic planned for the start
    of September this year, or whether it will be postponed to a later date
    will largely symbolize the degree of urgency of the agreements reached
    that are traditionally resolved by the political elites of Armenia
    and Russia at the level of realistic, mutually beneficial pragmatism.

    [Translated from Russian]


    From: Baghdasarian
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