Two days ago, Ruben Vardanyan, who literally only appointed himself “in charge of Karabakh”, addressed his “compatriots”, where he frightened them with a humanitarian catastrophe and an allegedly impending genocide.
Two years ago, I already entered into a dispute in absentia with Ruben Vardanyan, who still called himself a Russian businessman in those days.
Let me remind you that then, in the first days of the 44-day war, he turned to the Russians with an ultimatum demand to unconditionally support the Armenians.
Now I have read our discussion. Ready to subscribe to every word. Nothing has changed in my views.
But little has changed in Vardianyan’s views either.
Neither the defeat of the Armenian forces in the war, nor the restoration by Azerbaijan of its sovereignty over almost all of its lands, nor a fundamental change in the balance of power and the situation in the region, that is, everything that I promised him in October 2020 in advance, affected them. Does he not understand anything?
No, he understands, but he still plans to reverse the course of history, plans to review the results of the war and cancel the November 10 ceasefire statement signed by the three leaders, which he now calls nothing more than a “scrap of paper”.
Not only hopes, but is already actively acting.
Now he is not a representative of public opinion, and not even a Russian, he is now the Leader of Karabakh. True, self-proclaimed, but according to the current constitution, Azerbaijan and Nagorno-Karabakh are also not.
Detail – in order to receive all this happiness, he left the citizenship of the Russian Federation.
Really! What can you expect there in Russia, except for sanctions? It would be necessary to honestly refuse the money earned in Russia, but his logic is ironclad – the country is not mine, the people are alien to me, but the money, my money, my relatives.
Citizenship of Armenia (albeit in the absence of another citizenship) is a condition for obtaining public positions in Armenia, and even in Artsakh, which is so imposed.
Here I would give advice to Armenian officials – to check whether Vardanyan has completed the process of withdrawing from Russian citizenship. It took him only a few weeks instead of the usual six months. And then after all, if it turns out that he has not yet completely left the citizenship of Russia, then all his actions in official positions are not valid.
Although here I am ready to calm down. In fact, ALL of his actions in the so-called “Artsakh” are illegal. This is the territory of Azerbaijan, and in Baku the appointment of Vardanyan as a “Minister of State” is not recognized, which means that he will not be able to participate in the negotiations on behalf of the Karabakh Armenians.
So, well, why did he show up there? This step looks so strange that they immediately began to zealously look for a “second bottom” in it.
Those who searched immediately announced that they had found it. It turns out that Vardanyan is gaining points in Karabakh in order to challenge Pashinyan in Yerevan very soon and that this is actually “Putin’s plan”.
I do not believe the version about “Putin’s plan”, most likely, it comes from Vardanyan himself. And no matter what Vardanyan himself declares, no matter what and to whom he swears, it is all his own project, it is a monument to his narcissism, narcissism and pride. And it was not Putin who sent him there, but the Moscow Armenian diaspora. Powerful and cunning. And with a specific task.
Well, he spreads rumors about himself as about “Putin’s project”, just to fill his own worth and write off his inevitable future jambs to “higher interests”.
Jambs and cones are already knocking on the window.
In politics, it is not shares that bring success, but influence.
But in order to capitalize on influence, you must first have it. In the meantime, Vardanyan was engaged in the capitalization of the traditional industry – he had just been appointed, and is already trying to take control of the gold mining in Karabakh, that is, to get a share in the ongoing plunder of the bowels of Azerbaijan by Armenians.
There are now a dime a dozen different reports in the press about a series of scandalous events that followed an attempt by Azerbaijani representatives to visit the gold mines near the village of Gulyatag, where they were, and this is important – in the presence of Vardanyan – they were not allowed to go by young people dressed in civilian clothes. And our Russian peacekeepers stood nearby and did not interfere.
Events have been on the rise for several days, and I’m not going to analyze them here in detail. I can only say that Vardanyan is consistently working to create a feeling of a besieged fortress among the Karabakh Armenians. He directly speaks about the besieged Leningrad, but rather, he seeks to present Karabakh as a new edition of the ancient Israeli fortress Mossad.
I must say right away that there is no threat of a humanitarian catastrophe. Azerbaijan will never abandon its citizens. And there is no need to talk about the threat of genocide. If there were such plans – to clear Karabakh of Armenians, then there were conditions for this. Two years ago. But there was no such goal and no.
But two points interest me most of all – Vardanyan’s goals and the role of Russian peacekeepers.
And here, any unbiased observer will immediately see that the self-proclaimed “Minister of State” from the very beginning acts as the most notorious provocateur and, within the framework of these provocations, he assigns a special role to Russian peacekeepers, trying through them to draw all the parties who signed the Statement of November 10, 2020, into a new round of showdowns, and maybe conflict. The goal is still the same – to reverse the settlement process that the three leaders launched two years ago.
The fact that Vardanyan disrupted the visit of the Azerbaijani representatives to the gold mines lends itself to a logical explanation.
But then another question arises, to which I do not yet have an answer. And he is a hundred times more serious.
Two years ago, Vardanyan directly addressed the Russian military with a demand to provide immediate and effective support to the Armenians, hoping to hide from the war behind the backs of Russian soldiers. Then I assessed this appeal as a call to rebellion against the Supreme Commander.
But today these calls came to my mind in connection with the actions, or rather, the inaction of the Russian peacekeepers. They were also near the mines, but did not ensure the fulfillment of their pre-agreed legal mission by the Azerbaijani representatives. There are even publications that claim that they interfered with this mission.
I am far from thinking that “informal” relations between Armenian “authorities” and Russian commanders are possible in 2022. Thirty years ago, as they say, it happened, but 30 years have passed.
I am sure that Vardanyan understands that it is impossible to turn Russian peacekeepers into his pocket army, that this time it will not be possible to hide behind the backs of Russian soldiers. And if he does not fully understand, then he will be corrected. I believe that the recent events were the reason for the telephone conversations on December 12 between V. V. Putin, first with I. Aliyev, and then with N. Pashinyan.
Apart from Vardanyan, now no one wants to create a situation in which someone will begin to consider the peacekeepers not as a condition, but as an obstacle to the settlement. After all, only two and a half years remain before the extension or non-extension of their mandate, even less.
But solely in his own interests, earning points for himself, Vardanyan is now jumping out of his pants, trying to push the armed forces of Azerbaijan against the Russian peacekeepers.
In conclusion.
Two years ago, I reacted to the words of a man who could be called a social activist. He had ideas and plans. Adventurous, even scary, if you think about it.
Today I am reacting to the actions of the same man, but he now calls himself a statesman.
And his actions are potentially more terrifying than the plans of the public man. Especially since he, as you can see with the naked eye, is drawing Russian peacekeepers into the conflict with a consistent, well-thought-out series of provocations. And then Russia.
Russia for him, and for Pashinyan too, is waste material. Landmarks are now different – Macron, Biden. Here are his new allies.
And what they want to achieve in the South Caucasus became clear when Macron intervened and disrupted the ready-made agreement on a transport corridor that is beneficial to everyone, and Armenia above all.
Macron’s course is clear – to return to the stage the OSCE Minsk Group, the “services” of which Azerbaijan refused, to nullify the tripartite agreements of November 2020, and then revise them. The Armenians, including Vardanyan, hope that in their favor.
It’s time to stop him.
Who will do it?
Only co-signers of the Statement dated 10 November. They have no right to allow one adventurer to play the scenario of breaking the November 2020 agreements like clockwork.
At the same time, Pashinyan, I believe, no longer counts. He is now working with redoubled energy for the new “real” owners.
Two years ago, in sports terms, he threw a towel into the ring. Now he would even be glad if someone else delivered him from the shame of those days.
Now the main thing is to avoid sudden steps. I know they are asking. But I am sure that the common task of the responsibility of people is to ensure that the agreements of November 10, 2020 stand.
They will stand. Pledge in the state wisdom of VV Putin and I. Aliyev.
Two years ago, in November, Azerbaijan could complete the liberation of its territory. But on common sense, he didn’t. State interests won over military excitement. Can do it now. Maybe, but I don’t think it will. For the same reasons.
And it is time for the President of Russia to remember the words that his signature under the document is the main guarantee of the implementation of the agreements. And there is. Especially now, when the Russian troops are trying to use the “blind”.
And life itself will save us from provocateurs.
And very soon.
Even the Armenians of Karabakh do not need Vardanyan. He will not be able to solve their problems, he will not want to take care of them, and he will bring a lot of problems with his adventures. And then he will run away. The first part, that is, to create problems out of the blue, he completed. But he hasn’t run yet.
Further it will only get worse. So it would be better, more correct, more honest for him to leave. Right now.
And all reasonable and responsible people in the region and beyond must now set themselves three tasks. First, to prevent bloodshed. Including random. Secondly, to stop all attempts of provocations, primarily by third forces. And, finally, evaluate for yourself all the consequences of the hypothetical possibility of the withdrawal of Russian peacekeepers.
Well, the last moment – we are now witnessing another attempt to present the Armenian population of Karabakh as potential victims. This attempt has already received traditional support from the Armenian diaspora in a number of countries, including the United States and the European Union. No one should be allowed to feed on these baseless speculations.
ATTENTION! The opinion of the author of the article may not coincide with the position of the editors.
