Russia Distances Itself from South Caucasus

The year of 2006 became a jump in Russia's distancing from the South Caucasus. One of the causes of this distance is Russian ‘gas' policy towards the CIS countries, said political scientist Alexander Iskandaryan, the Director of Caucasian Media Institute to a news conference in Yerevan.

"The other heavy factor of Russia's distancing from the region is the aggravation of Russian-Georgian relations. In both cases Russia's attitude towards the South Caucasus lead the Armenian community to great changes in the sphere of social discourse, greatly changed Armenian's attitude towards Russia," he stressed. In his words, it's true that Russia has been and remains the heaviest and most essential military-political partner of Armenia.

"But in other sphere of republic's relations with other states, say in trade-economic sphere, Europe has paramount importance for Armenia. Here there are several causes: the consistently developing Armenia-NATO Individual Partnership Action Plan (IPAP), EU-Armenia Action Plan in the framework of European Neighborhood Policy, new developments in Turkey-EU relations," thinks the Armenian political scientist.

Alongside, he underlined that Armenia's policy in Russian-Georgian opposition proceeds from rationality. "Armenia cannot allow luxury to spoil Armenian-Georgian relations in favor of Russia. This is being done and it is right. In his turn Moscow demand from the Armenian authorities to behave other way. Moreover, Armenia begins to come out of such primitive notions as ‘everlasting allies and enemies' and refers to the role of "Russia's outpost" by other way, which she is being strongly imposed and which is far away from the reality," Iskandaryan stressed.

In regard of increasing xenophobia towards Caucasian migrants, the Armenian political scientist thinks that just it has being written much about. "Murders and persecutions of Armenians in Russia existed always, just currently the Armenian press has begun to notice it. In 1994-95 there were pogroms and expulsions in Krasnodar Territory but nobody used to write about it. So the matter is in activation of the press. And then, this is Russia's and other multi-national states' problem," Iskandaryan said.