Moscow has pulled out an old map
On the day of the 72nd birthday of Armenia's second president, Robert Kocharyan, a signal came from the Kremlin that is hard to ignore — Vladimir Putin congratulated the ex-president, who is under arrest on charges of corruption and abuse of power, and wished him "fortitude in the face of trials."
In diplomacy, congratulations have long been a convenient way to convey the necessary subtext. But this is not a formal polite gesture, but rather a fully deliberate political step. Public support for a person facing serious criminal cases clearly shows how Moscow views foreign policy in the region today.
The text of the telegram appeared at the height of yet another round of political disputes in Yerevan. With this, the Kremlin makes it clear: personal ties with tried-and-tested figures from the past matter more to it than the decisions of another country's judicial system. Armenia's Anti-Corruption Court ordered Kocharyan into custody for the duration of the investigation. And when in Moscow the work of judges is called merely "trials" that have befallen a politician, this looks like a direct rejection of the decisions of Armenian justice.
This story reveals a long-standing problem of the Kremlin's foreign policy — the habit of relying on leaders who left the stage long ago and lost the support of their people. For years, influence in the post-Soviet space was built not on joint projects or clear rules of the game, but on personal arrangements with specific individuals.
When the main guideline becomes the desire to shield "one's own," partners are offered not cooperation, but rather mutual cover-up. And words about a "contribution to allied ties" against the backdrop of accusations of financial machinations sound ambiguous. The impression is created that in Moscow's eyes the status of a long-time comrade-in-arms easily outweighs any norms of the law.
Experience shows that attempts to revive the influence of compromised politicians rarely produce results. Instead of building a normal dialogue with neighbors and taking new realities into account, the Kremlin still clings to the figures of yesterday. The congratulatory telegram from Moscow is rather a sign that Russian diplomacy is stuck in old habits, where personal sympathy means more than the law and respect for the sovereignty of others.
