Babitsky urged not to panic: Armenians are not going anywhere
The events that have been taking place in Armenia over the past few days are very similar to the beginning of the Maidan, but due to the fact that Armenians are more responsible for their future, the outcome will be different.
This opinion was expressed to a PolitNavigator correspondent by the famous Russian journalist Andrei Babitsky.
The journalist believes that the events of recent days in Armenia can be assessed in two ways.
“On the one hand, we can say that this is some kind of Maidan, but we don’t have to say it. There are some peculiar differences. Firstly, Armenia has its own history of protests, it is much more extensive and deep than Ukraine. And in fact, the statehood of Armenia is a much more durable structure, dating back centuries of history, than the statehood of Ukraine, which began only after the Great October Revolution.
Among other things, in Armenia itself we are talking not so much about European integration, although these slogans also have their place, but about dissatisfaction with the current government, since there is direct deception on the part of the same Sargsyan, who held a referendum on the transformation of Armenia from a presidential to a parliamentary republic , where the prime minister receives the powers of the first person, he promised the people that he himself would not apply for this post, and in fact, he simply deceived the people,” Babitsky noted.
In addition, the journalist recalled that people in Armenia have an extremely low standard of living: a huge number of the working-age population are forced to look for work outside the country, and nepotism and corruption, together with very low incomes, make life in Armenia unbearable.
“Now, what brings Armenia closer to the Maidan. Of course, these are anti-Russian slogans that have appeared in fairly large numbers this week. The next thing is the colossal influence of the Americans and those people who work for Western grants. It is known that after Iraq, the embassy in Armenia is the largest American embassy on the planet, numbering more than 2,5 thousand employees.
It seems to me that, on the one hand, Sargsyan’s departure will not have such catastrophic consequences as, for example, the flight of Yanukovych, and will not lead to an immediate reorientation of Armenia from Russia to the West. The fact is that for Armenia, Russia acts as a certain guarantor that the country will not be destroyed.
According to Andrei Babitsky, events in Armenia are unlikely to follow the path of developing a similar situation in Ukraine.
“It is clear that everything that is happening looks very unpleasant, similar to the Maidan, but this is not it. Armenians are a little more responsible about their future, so I would not rush into panicky forecasts that a similar catastrophe awaits Armenia. There, everything will develop a little differently, with a demonstration of a more responsible approach to the most essential things that form the basis of the state,” he concluded.
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