Parliamentarians are Discontent with Putin Representative: Haykakan Zhamanak

Yesterday, a group of Armenian MPs met with Russian President Vladimir Putin’s cultural cooperation representative, Mikhail Shvidkoy at the Armenian-Russian parliamentary friendship club in Armenia's National Assembly. A few MP’s were discontent with the Russian guest’s answers.

The daily Haykakan Zhamanak noted that independent MP Khachatur Kokobelyan claimed there are cultural obstacles among some Russian circles within Armenian-Russian cooperation, which make imbalanced and unjust statements. The MP stressed that relations are not found on a balanced level, recalling the arrest of Russian-Armenian businessman Levon Hayrapetyan and Russian arms sales to Azerbaijan.

Haykakan Zhamanak notes, that Shvidkoy’s translator, Zara Adamyan, refused to translate the ‘complex’ remark, in exchange, former-Prosperous Armenia Party (PAP) MP Aram Safaryan translated it for the guest.. Putin’s representative responded to Kokobelyan’s observation, saying that he would rather not speak about those topics and answered with a question, “and would you like it if the US sold weapons to Azerbaijan?” Then Shvidkoy proclaimed that the Armenian army is militarily capable because of its relations with Russia. While referring to Levon Hayrapetyan, Shvidko assured the MPs that there is no anti-Armenian sentiment in Russia, while the Russian investigative services deal with the rest of the issues in the case.

After Shvidko’s responses, secretary for the Heritage party, Tevan Poghosyan drew parallels between Shvidko and the previous Armenian-Russian club’s meeting with journalist Dimitry Kiselyov. Poghosyan said, “After Kiselyov, you are the Russian authorities softer representative, but the content is the same, you still speak of knowledge of the Russian language (in Armenia). The only difference is that, he (Kiselyov) came with a large pickaxe, and you came with a small one and spoke with milder words.”

Poghosyan also said that Russia is looking for means of taking more oil. “You say, in order to pressure Armenia, I’ll play with Azerbaijan, and when time comes to pressure Azerbaijan, it’s with Armenia.”

The Heritage Party secretary was also interested in how many signs there are in Armenian in Russia. Shvidkoy, nevertheless, did not respond to the statement, noting the he is a culturally aligned advisor, writes Haykakan Zhamanak.