Should Russian Commander Indifferent towards Lives of Armenians Make a Decision on Downing this Plane or not?—Vova Vartanov

Vova Vartanov, commander of the first reconnaissance and sabotage detachment, touching upon Armenia-Russia air defense agreement, stated at today’s press conference that there are threats, which may derive from Armenia’s weakness, “Finally, a commander indifferent towards the life of Armenians should make a decision on downing this plane or not? And maybe that plane is directed to hit the nuclear power plant. We should be strong, if we are strong, we can have an Armenian commissar with a mouser next to every Russian commander, so if the latter does something wrong, he might shoot. It’s a normal practice, when a foreign army is deployed on the territory of a state, local authorities have rather serious checking functions.

However, according to him, the agreement also has positive provisions for Armenia as well, “As a result of cooperation with Russians, Turks can’t raise any plane in the territory of Western Armenia, which we won’t be able to notice and down, . The issue is quite different, will a Russian want to down it? If we’re strong he’ll and if not, I can’t say. Currently they control the air of up to the border with Syria. They may shoot anything flying up to Vana Lake. They may down a plane from the side of Iran up to Tabriz.  In short, many positive points may be found, but there is one negative point, which throws all the positive ones to the bin. That negative point is: maybe Russian commander decides not to interfere, or the Russian elite may be more pro-Turkish in that period, what will happen? Or would they want to protect Karabakh and Tavush from Azerbaijan? It’s suspicious, I don’t believe. This one negative point removes hundred positive ones.

By Razmik Martirosyan