Holiday leave before Putin’s visit
According to our source of information from the 102nd Russian military base of Armenia’s Gyumri, Colonel Andrey Ruzinsky is on leave.
This is strange because on December 2 the Russian president Vladimir Putin is visiting Armenia’s Gyumri, and the Russian military base in particular. Why would the commander of the armed unit take leave at the time when the president is coming to his military base? The president is his commander. Who should host the president in the military base if not the commander? For this reason, our sources from Gyumri believe Razinsky’s leave is not voluntary but he was told to go on vacation. It is possible that he may not return from vacation and may be appointed to serve somewhere else.
The commander of the Russian 102nd military base in Armenia, Andrey Razinsky became famous after his interview to the Russian red Star newspaper, in which he said that in case of military attack on Karabakh by Azerbaijan, the Russian military unit under his control could be involved in the conflict according to Russia’s obligation as a party to the Collective Security Treaty.
Two months have passed since this announcement, but still it is being actively discussed. Azerbaijan has officially demanded to refute Razinsky’s statement, which was done by Russian defense minister Sergey Shoigu. During a meeting with the Azeri defense minister Zakir Hasanov the Russian defense minister said that it could be the journalist’s mistake.
According to our information, in the near future the editorial of the Red Cross newspaper may come up with an official refuting statement saying that the commander said that the 102nd Russian army division could be involved in a possible war if military actions start between Armenia and Azerbaijan due to Karabakh, but the journalist interpreted as if the Russian army could be involved in military actions in Karabakh.
The most interesting part in this story is that the mistake could be explained by the fact that somebody from the editorial or the journalist was drunk. A Russian journalist said that when the journalist who was supposed to interview to commander came to the editorial, there was a celebration party and he joined them for a while. The journalist could not refuse to join his colleagues, and he listened to the recording to prepare the article after he had taken a couple of vodka shots. As a result, the article reads that the Russian armed forces may interfere if a resumes in Karabakh. It does not matter if this statement was true or no. The important thing is that the Russian authorities are seriously concerned about editing Razinsky’s statement.
On the other hand, if the Russian government does not really share Razinsky’s statement, why was not he dismissed immediately after the statement? Or, why has not the Red Star newspaper refuted that statement so far? Russian sources say that if Razinsky was dismissed or the newspaper published refuting statement immediately after the statement, it would generate anti-Russian mood in Armenia and could be interpreted differently. This would mean that Russia would give up and would not interfere if anything would happen in Karabakh. This would be green light from Russia for Azerbaijan for war. Instead, the Russian government is trying to be neutral by neither confirming nor refuting that statement, and the important thing is that the commander should not be present during Putin’s visit in order not to appear on camera and speak about this statement.
Russians do not refute Razinsky’s statement also due to the fact that they are sure that the Russian army will interfere in any military action in Karabakh, but not as from the side of Armenia, but from the side of Russia. Russia has military presence in three out of the four self-declared independent territories in Post-Soviet area – Abkhazia, South Ossetia and Dnestr. Russia does not have military presence only in Karabakh, and it is possible for Russia to plant its presence in this territory only as a result of resumption of war and Russia’s involvement. In other words, it does not make a sense to refute Razinsky’s statement if he spoke Russia’s official policy. The thing is that Razinsky should have not announced about it but he should have made come true in a convenient time.
By Sargis Ghazaryan
