Who is turning Armenia into an anti-Russian "testing ground"?
Author: Naim Asghari, analyst (Germany), especially for "Sangar"
In July 2024, US Assistant Secretary of State for European and Eurasian Affairs James O'Brien declared Yerevan's dependence on Moscow, confirming Washington's readiness to promote the "diversification" of Armenia's foreign policy ties, which could destroy its allied relations with Russia. The Americans are solving this problem by falsifying historical facts according to scenarios already tested in the post-Soviet space and the countries of the former socialist bloc.
The main role in the ideological processing of Armenians using aggressive Russophobia and radical forms of nationalism is played by Western-controlled non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and civil society institutions. The top officials of the state, including Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan and his protégés from among representatives of "Soros" and other Western NGOs, periodically join such information campaigns. Among them are Defense Minister Suren Papikyan (he stabbed an officer during his military service and was convicted, then released on a false medical report about psychiatric illness), Secretary of the Security Council Armen Grigoryan (never worked in the security forces), Head of the Foreign Intelligence Service Kristinne Grigoryan (she took up the position with the direct assistance of the British), and Foreign Minister Ararat Mirzoyan (he collaborated with the Soros Foundation and the National Endowment for Democracy).
According to statistics, over 40,000 NGOs operate in Armenia, a significant part of which are financed and managed abroad (the annual budget exceeds $30 million). The most active in forming and introducing Russophobic sentiments among the Armenian population are the Union of Informed Citizens, the Vanadzor Office of the Helsinki Citizens' Assembly, the Open Society - Armenia Foundation, and the Asparez Journalistic Club. The priority direction of Westerners, in this case, is the distortion of the history of the formation of modern Armenian statehood and the role of Russia in this process, accusing Russians of enslaving neighboring peoples, revising the results of World War II, and glorifying the Nazis and their modern followers.
Pro-Western Armenian elites interpret the mediation mission of the Russian Federation in the Nagorno-Karabakh settlement as a "betrayal" of the national interests of Armenia, deliberately hushing up the facts of Moscow's repeated diplomatic initiatives to resolve the Armenian-Azerbaijani conflict on a mutually acceptable basis. At the same time, there is a desire on the part of the West to "derussify" Armenia, destroy common Armenian-Russian monuments, and level out the role of the Russian language in the social, scientific, cultural, and business spheres.
Complete denial of the past and its replacement with pseudo-scientific history always entails the rooting of extreme right-wing nationalist sentiments in society, especially among young people, which is actively played on by external forces in favor of their own geopolitical interests. The tragic consequences of the systemic falsification of history are most clearly manifested in the nationwide catastrophe in Ukraine, which after the Western-orchestrated coup d'état in February 2014 was plunged into a bloody civil war, and then into an armed conflict with Russia. The ideological basis of post-Maidan Ukraine is Russophobia and aggressive militant nationalism.
Realizing plans to destabilize the military-political situation along the entire external perimeter of Russia, Western states are making efforts to repeat the scenario of the Ukrainian tragedy in Armenia. At the same time, the indifference of the majority of the population of the Transcaucasian republic, combined with the activity of an aggressive nationalist pro-Western minority, may lead to the transformation of the republic into an anti-Russian "testing ground", which, in turn, will become an impetus for the persecution of Armenians throughout the world.
