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  • "Russia Does Not Respect The Sovereignty Of Armenia."

    "RUSSIA DOES NOT RESPECT THE SOVEREIGNTY OF ARMENIA."

    September 4 2013

    According to political scientist Armen Grigoryan, visiting fellow
    of the Slovak Foreign Policy Association Research Centre and the
    University of Banska Bystrica, the assertions regarding the danger
    of isolating NKR from Armenia are the result of Russian campaign. -
    What expectations can we have from the EU Association process, in
    particular, from the application of a free trade agreement? - The
    EU Association Agreement can promote the long-term implementation
    of reforms, which enables Armenia to take the path of building the
    public life based on the Western standards. The formation of democratic
    society on the basis of pluralism, the full protection of human rights
    is only possible with integration into modern, progressive system.

    Now, even 20 years later, it becomes possible to implement what the
    Central European and Baltic countries have conducted since mid of 90s.

    And particularly regarding the free trade regime, a few days ago,
    a detailed analysis was published as to how much the trade volume
    will increase, what social consequences it will have, and so on. The
    expected results are positive. In addition, the free trade regime can
    stimulate the investments, more contributing to the creation of new
    jobs. Of course, it will take a lot of prerequisites, some of them
    are technical, such as transferring to the European standards of food
    processing. Additional funds will be allocated to the EU budget for
    2014-2021 for modernization of technical upgrading, certification, and
    infrastructures of the Eastern Partnership countries. Most importantly,
    however, is the provision of other prerequisites that depends on us,
    provision of priority of the law, immunity of property rights, in
    particular, elimination of the arbitrariness of the tax authorities
    in terms of reduction of corruption, elimination of oligarchy impact,
    and so on. On the other hand, free trade regime will not only promote
    export but also will lead to intensifying competition in the domestic
    market, along with its positive impact. - There are fears that
    the free trade regime will lead to the isolation of Karabakh from
    Armenia. - Not only Armenia, but also Georgia and Moldova are related
    to the issue of unsettlement of the conflict with regard to the free
    trade. The EU requires that the partner countries ensure that the
    goods manufactured in the countries not within the free trade regime
    (Russia, China, etc.), for example, labeled "produced in Armenia",
    not to be exported to EU. For this reason, the partner country should,
    in particular, ensure the possibility of visits by EU inspectors to
    control the production capacity. Georgia and Moldova do not control
    a part of their territory and some parts of the external border, and
    thus can not guarantee the absence of re-export. For this reason,
    the Government of Moldova is ready to install control points along
    the dividing line with Transnistria, it should be noted that moving
    between Moldova and Transnistria is free.

    Georgia is not ready for such a step, because it can be perceived
    as a de facto recognition of independence. But, maybe the EU fears
    that the Russian soldiers can agree with some Georgian businessmen
    to organize an export from Russia to the occupied territories, and
    then from Georgia to the EU, which in the condition of customs duty
    exemption could provide a big profit. This is only a guess, but in any
    case the Government of Georgia should find a solution. In our case,
    the situation is different, unlike Georgia and Moldova, Armenia does
    not have a problem with regard to ensuring compliance with rules of
    origin of products, in particular, organizing visits of inspectors. As
    for the possibility of export of products from Karabakh, let us not
    forget that currently the vast majority of Armenia's export goes to
    the EU, and the origin of some products theoretically possible of
    Karabakh is not problematic. Because of the Association Agreement,
    the assertion on danger of isolating Karabakh from Armenia are the
    result of the Russian campaign, and we have to worry not about the EU,
    but the policy led by Russia. - What steps can be expected from Russia,
    intensification of anti-propaganda against EU integration, or other
    pressures as well? - As for the campaign, for example, in Moldova
    during the last three years, approximately 40 NGO was established
    to specifically advocate the "Eurasian integration", naturally,
    vast resources of advocacy be directed in Ukraine. For Armenia,
    it is also expected to strengthen the campaign, unfortunately, the
    number of those guided by the instruction from the Russian side and
    the so-called "initiators" in Armenia's political field, analytical
    frameworks is great. Because the Euro integration, everywhere there are
    traces of Russian influence starting from the talks about the danger
    of isolating Karabakh from Armenia up to homosexual topics. It is
    also obvious that Russia does not respect the sovereignty of Armenia,
    this is evidenced by the fact that a few days ago, the First Secretary
    of the Russian Embassy in Armenia Alexander Vasilyev publicly called
    Armenia-EU negotiations a 'separate', complaining of their privacy,
    and also projected "hot autumn" in Armenia. In other words, the
    officials in the RF think that Armenia is obligated to be accountable
    to them for the negotiations led by it. Similar expression of lack
    of respect for the sovereignty of the country should deserve a rough
    treatment. Unfortunately, at this time, too, as well as in many other
    cases, particularly in the case of supplying weapons to Azerbaijan
    by Russia, the official circles of Armenia did not respond in any
    way. In addition to the propaganda, other pressures, of course, are
    possible. The "economic war" led against Ukraine in these days is in
    front of all of us. Indeed, the campaign against Ukraine is especially
    strong, because the RF realizes that if Ukraine irreversibly stands
    on the way of European integration, the creation of the Eurasian
    Union would become meaningless. Let's hope that Ukraine, despite the
    pressure, will sign the EU Association Agreement, opening a new era
    for agreement initialing countries. It is possible to apply pressure on
    Armenia in the political and economic spheres, as well as speculations
    around the settlement process of Karabakh conflict. Unfortunately,
    the only option that could be considered now is to that Russia will
    display politeness and will relate to Armenia with respect, as well as
    to the choice of Georgia, Moldova, and Ukraine. - And does Armenia have
    enough potentials to withstand the pressures, and whether the EU is
    able to provide additional guarantees of security to Armenia? - First
    of all, in my opinion, the EU is not even obliged to give us guarantee
    of security if we do not eliminate our internal drawbacks and faulty
    traditions. To resist pressures and to neutralize threats it requires a
    public consensus, which is impossible to achieve unless there are false
    charged convicts, and the police act of violence is continued with
    new attempts to "prepare a case" against civilian activists, unless
    measurements are not applied against arbitraries of the oligarchs,
    and so on and so forth. We need to evaluate the available risks and
    the sources thereof and develop plans on neutralization. For example,
    why is the pressure possible in the energy sector, since the entire
    energy sector has appeared under the management of Russians? We are
    rightly complaining about the Turkish blockade, but we forget that we
    also have the problem of self-isolation, it can also be called the
    problem of self-blockade. A few years ago, when the Iran- Armenia
    gas pipeline project was discussed, the top officials were saying,-
    "We can not ignore Russia's interests," and finally, the pipeline
    was built with a small diameter and was handed over to the Russians.

    Emma GABRIELYAN

    Read more at: http://en.aravot.am/2013/09/04/156270/




    From: A. Papazian
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