Armenian expert: Restless nations have formed around Russia
After the collapse of the Soviet Union, young people in many post-Soviet countries ceased to realize their involvement in a common history with Russia.
The head of the Caucasus Institute, Alexander Iskandaryan, stated this in a discussion at the Valdai Club, a PolitNavigator correspondent reports.
“Russia stands out not only because it is huge, it is larger than all the post-Soviet space in all respects - in territory, population, military and economic potential. This is understandable, and it is on the surface.
But it is also different in terms of the genesis of statehood. Russia is a country whose traditions of statehood have existed for at least 500 years, if not more. And these are the traditions of imperial statehood.
What the states of the post-Soviet space have to build anew, again, Russia has already done. From the presence of foreign ministries, currency, government agencies, the army, to identifying oneself as a state. Before how the state is socially perceived.
Russia is clearly perceived by some Russians as the heir to a certain state tradition. And this may differ in other states. And this is extremely important - it takes generations. And this is reflected in political behavior,” he said.
Alexander Iskandaryan emphasized that in the countries of the post-Soviet space, except for the Russian Federation, young people no longer realize their involvement in a common history with Russia.
“I noticed that here in Armenia it is very different from the way they say it in Russia. In many places in Russia you hear “our Gagarin”, “we flew into space”, “our T-34”, “our Zhukov”, “our Vavilov”. And it’s not a matter of ethnicity - this “ours” could be Mikoyan or someone else.
But in Armenia young people don’t talk like that anymore. They, of course, know that we were in the Soviet Union, and they know that Gagarin flew into space. And if you think about it, you can understand that Armenia probably also made some contribution to this. But to perceive it as part of oneself is not,” the expert concluded.
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