Internal revolution with the help of Russians
While the society was discussing the revolution attempt by Shant Harutyunyan, another revolution took place that was unnoticed. This was not a forced revolution but civilized one, and it was not in the street but in people’s thinking. This was an inner revolution and was successful.
The Prime-Minister of Armenia hosted a Russian delegation headed by Victor Khristenko, head of Eurasia Economic Commission. During the meeting the parties discussed a number of issues and research related to Armenia’s integration with the Customs Union (CU). They also discussed the possibility of harmonizing the Armenian legislation with the CU one. Wrapping up the results of the negotiation the parties agreed to work for the implementation of the points they had agreed upon and continue negotiations in the future as well. The negotiation was followed by a signing of a memorandum of understanding between Armenia and the Eurasia Economic Commission. The memorandum was signed by the Armenian PM Tigran Sargsyan and the Eurasia Commission Chairman Victor Khristenko.
This means that there was an inner revolution among the Armenian government and high ranking officials as they are promptly moving towards the Customs Union. The signing ceremony above is one of the steps toward the union. Such rapid change happened on September 3rd, when the president announced about his decision to join the Customs Union, but at that time the impression was that the Prime-Minister did not like that idea or was unexpected for him as he did not say any word about it at the government’s session the next day. Maybe that was the beginning of the inner revolution that developed to these days, when the Prime-Minister hosted Khristenko and signed the memorandum of understanding above. Several months ago PM Tigran Sargsyan was debating with Khristenko in distance. Khristenko used to hint on Armenia’s possible integration with the CU, and PM Sargsyan was refuting such possibility through interviews published in media.
One of the topics for the mentioned distant debate was the absence of physical border between Armenia and Russia. Tigran Sargsyan answered this question in an interview yesterday. In an interview given to the Today (Sevodnya) newspaper the PM discussed the topic of absence of a common border with the CU. “I think the long-lasting negotiations and research have proven to be successful, and we have an opportunity to apply for joining the Customs Union. It is not a secret for anyone that the biggest topic of discussion is the absence of border with the union, which needs to be further discussed and researched,” said Tigran Sargsyan.
The Russians will not celebrate the victory in order to drive the inner revolution in Armenia till the end because the PM said things in his interview that need to be answered. “However, there are some risks. Rates in the CU are almost twice higher than rates in third countries. We will be faced with certain difficulties. However, in general we see that Armenia will benefit from joining the Customs Union,” said Tigran Sargsyan. Are there any risks they cannot overcome? What they need to do is time to eliminate those risks or mar them in a manner to be able to deliver to the society as something good.
By Babken Tunyan
