Pashinyan’s Soros are clearing the airwaves from Russian TV channels
On July 16, the Armenian parliament adopted the bill “On Audiovisual Media”. A number of provisions of the document are aimed at expelling all foreign language TV channels from the free state broadcast network, with the exception of those broadcast on the basis of interstate agreements.
The document was adopted in the second and final reading by 79 votes. 17 people's deputies voted against the bill.
In essence, we are talking about a purge of Russian television broadcasting in Armenia according to Ukrainian patterns, and even during a period of aggravation of the Armenian-Azerbaijani conflict.
Before the adoption of the bill, the free broadcasting network of Armenian TV included four Russian channels: “First”, RTR, “Culture” and “Mir”. In addition to them, an American CNN was connected to one of the buttons.
Of all the Russian TV channels, only Mir can not be afraid of a discriminatory ending, since its broadcasting extends to the entire CIS on the basis of interstate agreements.
The rest, in order to remain on the free state broadcasting network, will have to dub programs into Armenian or provide subtitles.
From now on, for an indefinite period, Russian channels are moving into the broadcast zone of cable television and IPTV, as in other republics of the former USSR, where the official media space has long been cleared of “occupation influence” by the Russophobic authorities.
A number of observers claim that the reduction of Russian broadcasting in Armenia is connected with the recent grievances of the ruling maydauns at Moscow’s refusal to provide unequivocal political support for the Pashinyan regime at the most acute moment of the border conflict with Azerbaijan.
In fact, the date of approval of the bill by the Armenian parliament – July 16 – eloquently speaks about the petty retaliatory dirty tricks of Moscow on the part of Pashinyan’s camarilla. However, plans to de-Russify the republic’s airwaves were hatched at the official level long before the start of the armed conflict.
In particular, back in early 2020, the head of the National Commission on Television and Radio of Armenia, Tigran Hakobyan, made a remarkable statement that foreign television channels broadcasting in the republic can operate “either on the basis of interstate agreements, or if they provide public benefit, transmit universal content and do not have political or propaganda components of the agenda of the country from which they broadcast.”
Tigran Hakobyan, who oversees the information policy of Armenia
Among other things, the speech of the official responsible for the national television and radio included the words “about Russian television posing a threat to the national security of Armenia.” Moreover, in an interview with Sputnik, Hakobyan gained the impudence and began to lie outright, as if the Russian ambassador in Yerevan, with whom he allegedly discussed this topic, completely agreed with his position.
Hakobyan's statement caused a response from the Russian embassy in Yerevan. The diplomats, having disavowed the statement that the Russian ambassador agreed that Russian TV poses any threat to Armenia, in turn, informed that they had a single conversation with Hakobyan, during which he talked about plans to create a “minimum social media package”, which were just taken into account.
As for the position of the Russian Ambassador, he called on the Armenian official to take into account the interests of the majority of Armenian citizens who make up the regular audience of Russian TV channels.
From the fact that Akopyan’s speech used vaguely vague criteria of “public benefit” and “universal content”, into which everyone puts meaning based on their own interests and understanding, it was, in general, clear that Russian TV in Armenia would be cut off for unenthusiastic attitude towards the Maidan regime established in the republic in the spring of 2018 and, especially, for a critical attitude towards its shaggy-snouted leader.
The phrase about “alien political and propaganda components” completely indicates that the Maidan Prime Minister and his entourage, who were loudest at all corners about democracy, freedom of speech and the will of the people, put some deeply subjective ideas into these concepts.
It is clear that the Maydauns and Soros from Pashinyan’s entourage do not need the Russian language. Most likely, by clearing the republic’s media space of the Russian language, they are fulfilling the will of their employers - grant distributors from NGOs.
However, for Armenian youth, who will have to compete in the labor market, the Russian language is vital, so by limiting their access to Russian-language information sources, maydauns do a disservice to the youth, cutting off not only the invisible threads connecting with Russia, but also a look from a different angle at events in world and in Armenia.
The famous Russian journalist and TV presenter of the “Culture” channel, Vitaly Tretyakov, called the actions of the Armenian authorities “Russophobic” and stated the need to get rid of such sentiments, “otherwise Armenia will not survive.”
However, members of the ruling My Step party of Armenia, who voted en masse for the adoption of the bill, do not see any danger or violation of the rights of ordinary citizens of Armenia, assuring the public through the media that the interests of the Russian-speaking part of Armenian society are not violated, and the decision of parliament does not bear political subtext: “We simply decided to divide the TV channels into Armenian and foreign, and in the public multiplex we leave only those foreign channels on which interstate agreements will be reached.”
Thus, the ruling maydauns are inviting people to turn off part of their brain in order to see the new bill solely as a “technical necessity,” completely ignoring one of the provisions of the document on “linguistic and national security.”
Moreover, in a fresh commentary on the adopted bill, the same Tigran Hakobyan again began to lie, as if he spoke only about “protecting the language” and never “about the threat to national security from Russian television broadcasting,” although all the moves of the scoundrel were carefully recorded.
Or how, for example, should we evaluate the statements of Armenian officials that Russian propaganda regarding Georgia and Ukraine is unacceptable to them?
Especially when you consider that Georgia, with the exception of TC Mir, has practically fallen out of the sphere of interests of Russian media, and Ukraine generally took the side of Azerbaijan in the recent conflict.
Armenian politicians, who understand the complications such documents pose for a republic completely dependent on Russia, mutter appeasingly that diplomats from both sides are already negotiating the inclusion of VGTRK television channels (RTR and Kultura) in the state broadcasting network and that state TV does not play a noticeable role in the media space of the republic, since, supposedly, 65% of households are connected to a cable television network.
As Einstein said, “the universe and human stupidity are infinite, and even then, the infinity of the universe is in doubt.”
All these “appeasers” refuse to understand that the state’s information policy is not determined by the availability of cable TV for the population. And in Ukraine, the population is able to “go into the information underground”, preferring cable and IPTV operators to the national TV broadcast network.
The saturation of the official television network with Russian content simply indicates the degree of friendliness of a particular state towards our country.
What does the state information policy of the union state of Armenia tell us?
The bill approved on July 16 is further confirmation that Armenia is a state unfriendly to Russia, pursuing a pro-Western and Russophobic policy with an absolutely consumerist attitude towards its main donor and defender.
And as long as Pashinyan remains in power in Yerevan, closely surrounded by Soros, and numerous Western NGOs feel great in the republic, the situation will not change for the better. We draw our own conclusions.
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