Lavrov comments on the arrest of Robert Kocharyan
The position of the Russian Foreign Ministry is that we proceed from the interests of the Armenian people.
This was stated by the head of Russia's foreign policy agency, Sergey Lavrov, in an interview with the RBC television channel, commenting on the question of the arrest of former Armenian President Robert Kocharyan and his son, Sedrak Kocharyan.
On August 27, the court decided to arrest the second president of Armenia, Robert Kocharyan. A day earlier, his eldest son Sedrak Kocharyan was arrested.
"The position of our Foreign Ministry is that we proceed from the interests of the Armenian people. We see how their interests have been intertwined with the interests of our people over the centuries. Always, for long periods of time, we have been together, in solidarity with each other; Russia has more than once come to the aid of the Armenian people and the Armenian leadership in difficult situations. These interests should, of course, dominate. Right now the current representatives of the authorities in Yerevan are guided by other objectives," Lavrov noted.
He also drew attention to the fact that, besides Kocharyan, another former president of Armenia, Serzh Sargsyan, is under investigation.
As the Russian minister noted, Yerevan has declared the goal of orientation toward the European Union, and a law has been adopted on beginning the process of joining the EU.
"But when the countries of the Eurasian Economic Union (they met in May of this year at a summit) issued a statement calling on the Armenian leadership to hold a referendum, to determine whether they want to be in the EU or remain in the EAEU (In my opinion, this is a completely justified request. The norms of one organization are incompatible with another organization. This has already been said many times), the Prime Minister of Armenia, Pashinyan, said that when the time comes, he will decide. What does 'when the time comes' mean, if you have adopted a law on the beginning of Armenia's accession to the European Union?" Lavrov said.
According to him, Pashinyan's statements that a referendum on the republic's accession to the EU can be discussed only after an application is submitted and a "road map" is prepared testify to his "not very great trust" in the people.
Let us recall that on August 25, law enforcement officers conducted searches at the home of Robert Kocharyan and his son Levon, as well as at companies belonging to the former president's family. Subsequently, Robert Kocharyan and his eldest son Sedrak were arrested.
The ex-president has been charged in a case concerning the illegal acquisition of property. According to the investigation, during his time in the post of head of state, Kocharyan, in collusion with other persons and using his official position, acquired a number of facilities of public and economic significance at a price below the market rate.
Source: Sputnik Armenia
