“Relations with Armenia are deteriorating before our eyes” – Kommersant FM

The Russian authorities have questions for the leadership of Armenia – this is how the Kremlin commented on the ratification of the Rome Statute of the ICC by the parliament of the republic. Earlier, Yerevan recognized the jurisdiction of the International Criminal Court, which, as you know, issued an arrest warrant for Russian President Vladimir Putin. The decision was supported exclusively by deputies of the ruling party; the opposition boycotted the vote. Armenian authorities say that the actions are not directed against Russia. Kommersant FM political commentator Dmitry Drize believes that Moscow will most likely rely on the resignation of Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan.

There is another problem in Russia: a lot of fake cognac has appeared, in particular Armenian. Our responsible authorities have to react so that the Russian consumer does not get poisoned. The checks began in March-April, but in recent days, it appears that the situation with the counterfeit drink has seriously worsened.

How else can we explain the fact that up to 60 trucks with cognac from Armenia are already stuck at the Verkhniy Lars border checkpoint? Customs carefully checks and verifies documents in order to put a barrier to low-quality products. However, the Yerevan Brandy Factory, which, by the way, is owned by the French company Pernod Ricard, refutes all these insinuations. Well, maybe it seemed to someone.

Be that as it may, let’s make a small digression – an excursion into history. Almost three years ago, namely in December 2020, serious pests were discovered in Azerbaijani tomatoes and apples that were heading to the Russian Federation – the South American tomato moth and the oriental codling moth. Moreover, almost simultaneously, Turkish tomatoes also became sick – they were affected by spotted wilt.

Why do we pay attention to all these events that seem to be far from big politics? Because again we are haunted by coincidences. Cognac got stuck at the border almost simultaneously with the Armenian parliament ratifying the Rome Statute. As for the tomatoes, they fell ill against the backdrop of the unique – the first in post-Soviet history – parade in Baku on the occasion of the victory in the Karabakh war in 2020.

The main participant in the action, along with Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev, was his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan. This was an ambiguous event for the Russian Federation and its leadership in the first place. If only because the Russian Federation is Armenia’s ally and even the guarantor of its security as a member of the CSTO. And who, one might ask, are you celebrating victory over? That’s it.

But relations with Armenia are deteriorating before our eyes. The Rome Statute, no matter what anyone says or explains, is no longer the only unfriendly step on the part of a supposed ally. Moscow has not been hiding this for a long time. This means that retaliatory measures will not be long in coming.

By the way, regarding cognac, over the past five years its supplies to the Russian Federation have increased by more than 85%. Armenia is not such a rich country. The loss of the Russian direction is a more than sensitive measure. So Yerevan is at a crossroads – we need to decide where and with whom to go next, whether to leave the CSTO and other integration institutions. Or should I wait? And what will the West and numerous diasporas say? Yes, there are a lot of questions.

As you know, freedom and independence are given for a reason. Sometimes you have to pay dearly for all this. The Kremlin, for its part, will most likely wait for a constructive Armenian government, which, in its opinion, will come quite soon – life will become worse, in theory. As for Azerbaijan and Turkey, this is apparently a different story. It may seem that integration with the Russian Federation worries them much less. And they are not particularly worried about this.

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