Epress.am News from Armenia
Armenian National Congress (HAK) leader Levon Ter-Petrossian on Monday responded to questions sent by journalists and members of the public via email, SMS and Twitter at an outdoor Q&A session held in Liberty Square where opposition supporters have been staging nonstop rallies since Friday.
Soon after the “open press conference” began, HAK spokesperson Arman Musinyan announced that they had received 400 questions since Sunday. Ter-Petrossian declared that he responded to 39 out of what had later become 500 questions, “less than 10%,” but if the people agreed to this format he would gladly continue responding to questions at such outdoor gatherings.
One of the questions he responded to dealt with recent developments in Russia — in particular, the announcement of Russian PM Vladimir Putin’s candidacy for the upcoming presidential elections.
“I considered myself a Russian expert till 1988. To assess the situation now would be incorrect not only from a political point of view. I would say if I was sure. It seems to me that a change in the country’s leadership won’t affect relations with Armenia. There is a myth that the same switching of places can happen in Armenia [i.e. former president Robert Kocharian again becoming president]. We too don’t live on the moon. We know very well that Russian support for Kocharian is empty. For three years in a row, he has been knocking on the doors of Russia’s third-level officials in order to create an aura about himself. He never reached more senior officials,” Ter-Petrossian responded.