Zatulin urges Russia to reject Armenia vote outcome

PanARMENIAN.Net - Moscow should adopt a principled position regarding Armenia’s parliamentary elections, said Konstantin Zatulin, First Deputy Chairman of the Russian State Duma Committee on CIS Affairs.

According to him, Moscow should declare that it does not recognise the election results but will continue working with Armenia, MK.ru reported.

“In my view, a principled position should consist of the fact that under no circumstances can we regard the recent elections as democratic and consistent with generally accepted standards. We cannot do so because the conditions for fair electoral competition were not ensured.

In my opinion, we should take the following position: we declare that we do not recognise the results of these elections as honest and objective. However, since we have allied relations with Armenia and have traditionally developed ties with it, we will continue cooperation on the basis that the country is currently governed by people who have remained in power as a result of elections that were neither fair nor democratic.

We understand that there is no other authority in Armenia at present. Therefore, de facto we will continue maintaining contacts with them. I leave open the question of whether these contacts will continue at the level of ambassadors or chargé d’affaires. In this way, we will record our position: de facto we accept the existing reality, but we cannot accept it de jure in any way,” he said.

Commenting on restrictions on imports of Armenian goods into Russia, Zatulin said that if Moscow does not want the lifting of restrictions to be viewed as an admission that they were used solely as a tool during the election campaign, then the restrictions should remain in place.

“I believe that the reasons on which these restrictions were based continue to exist. If they disappear, the situation will be different. However, this has nothing to do with the elections.

If Armenia’s current authorities continue moving toward the European Union without asking the people about it, that does not satisfy us. Therefore, if this process continues, I believe we should initiate the issue of removing Armenia from the Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU) as a state that is failing to fulfil its allied obligations,” he said.

Zatulin also addressed the issue of gas prices, which, in his view, should be resolved through negotiations.

“Since the Armenian authorities have left no doubt about their intentions and have adopted a law on launching the process of accession to the European Union, we should also address gas pricing while taking that choice into account. For example, we could maintain current prices for a certain period and then move to the rates applied to EU countries,” he said.

He also commented on assistance expected to be provided to Armenia by the European Union, stating that these measures should be carefully analysed.

“If they violate the common customs area, that will be another reason for us to introduce certain restrictions. As for these announcements, I would treat them with considerable caution. The European Union is not capable of compensating Armenia for abandoning the Eurasian market and its relations with Russia. It may demonstratively provide a certain amount of money. However, in the long term, the European Union cannot assume a permanent obligation to compensate for the economic losses Armenia would incur from severing ties with Russia,” the State Duma deputy said.

He added that if Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan raises the issue of the Russian military base, it should be discussed.

“Tell me, please, what is the point for us of using that military base to protect Pashinyan? I believe there should be no rush regarding the military base under any circumstances. However, this is also one of the issues that, in my opinion, should be considered by the people living in Armenia who have at least some understanding of where their country is located and who protects it.

“Undoubtedly, that military base is one of the important components of our security. But if Armenia continues developing military-technical cooperation with the West, then naturally the corresponding question arises. We will not raise this issue ourselves. If Pashinyan wants to raise it, we will see. We will respond accordingly. I think that in the future, regardless of our current actions, he will want to raise this issue,” Zatulin said.

He also stated that Moscow should not accommodate Pashinyan by inviting him to the Russian capital.

“I do not know exactly how we will build this line of policy. I think the level of contacts will decrease. In any case, we should not accommodate Pashinyan by inviting him to Moscow. He has already declared everywhere that his first visit will be to Russia. It is clear that he needs that visit solely for camouflage purposes,” Zatulin said.

The European Commission plans to reduce tariffs on nearly 20 categories of Armenian goods with an annual volume of about €420 million whose imports into Russia are banned, the Financial Times reported.

Sergey Dankvert, head of Rosselkhoznadzor, stated that the restrictions are linked to the absence of effective quality-control systems among producers rather than political reasons.