YEREVAN—Revealing a more solid stance on the Ukranian crisis, Armenia’s President Serzh Sarkisian, in a phone call with Russian President Vladimir Putin, apparently recognized Crimea’s referendum to secede from Ukraine and join Russia.
The President’s press office announced that Sarkisian made the phone call on Wednesday to discuss the Ukrainian situation and “ways out of it.” In that light, the press statement said, the two presidents agreed that the Crimean referendum was “yet another realization of peoples’ right to self-determination.”
“The interlocutors also reaffirmed their belief in the importance of commitment to the norms and principles of international law and the UN charter,” the statement added.
The Russian side released a similar statement confirming the phone call but made no mention of Sarkisian’s endorsement of the Crimean referendum to join Russia.
Armenia has been careful not to take clear sides in the Ukrainian crisis given the West’s strong condemnation of Russia’s role and continuing actions in what is the biggest stand-off between the West and Russia since the Cold War.
But Sarkisian’s latest phone call is likely to draw negative reactions from Europe and the United States as it places Armenia squarely on the Russian side of the equation.
The two presidents also discussed the Karabakh conflict’s ongoing settlement process, according to the Armenian President’s press office. Sarkisian expressed his side’s readiness to work with the OSCE Minsk Group, the Co-Chairmen of which recently signaled another possible high level meeting between Sarkisian and Azeri President Ilham Aliyev.
Perfect example of a master and slave relationship.
Did any of the other Russian lackeys bow down as much as Sarkissian?
Did they discuss Artsakh’s future in the context of the Crimean precedent? Now is a good opportunity for Artsakh to remind of itself, and to draw everybody’s attention to its referendum of 1991. If it’s OK for Kosovo, S.Sudan, and now Crimea…
Well, that’s the end of that. When Russia implodes, I am sure the West, and especially Ukraine, will fight to make sure Karabagh is given to Azerbaijan. You can bet that Azerbaijan is going to use this like crazy in the West to raise its importance to Europe and serve as a deterrent to Moscow in the region.
I am baffled by this incredibly stupid decision-making. It’s like they always manage to out-do their previous acts of stupidity by taking sides in an issue that not only involves them, but is just going to make us more enemies. We’ve managed to reduce ourselves to nothing more than a Russian puppet state. We are apart of Russia in everything but name. That’s your Customs Union for you.
The EU will implode before Russia does. Look for Scotland and Catalonia to vote for independence later this year.
That’s what you think. Besides, the irony in your statement lies in the the fact that independence referendums are going on without a single movement towards violence in Spain and in the UK. This implies that the EU is much more sound structurally than Russia is, and will go on prospering with or without a strongman like Putin. The UK has even said that it will embrace the will of the Scottish people if they want independence, so just because they are splitting up territoriality doesn’t mean they are splitting up political or less likely to cooperate with one another. On the contrary, it shows that civility and diplomacy are much stronger in Europe and their leaders don’t have to resort to thuggish and authoritarian tactics to get what they want.
Imagine the terror and violence of a Dagestani or Chechen independence referendum would bring about.
Barak Obama never invited President Sarkissian to the White House during the past six years. Obama never kept his promise to recognize the Genocide. Obama has never met with American-Armenian community leaders. Obama considered Erdogan his best and most admired foreign political leader. Obama does not believe in self determination of people. The entire cadre of Democratic leaders including the President, Hillary Clinton, Joe Biden, Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid, all of them have sign or do sponsored resolutions for The genocide recognition when they were in congress or senate, however ALL of them do not support Genocide recognition and worse they OPPOSE passage of the recognition. I am glad about the my President Sarkissian’s bold stance. The Armenian destiny is intimately intertwined with mother Russia.
Long live Armeno-Russian centuries old friendship.
Barack Obama does not represent the West. I agree with you about America government. They are very corrupt and anti-american in themselves, but keep in mind they are controlled by the shadow government. They are very anti-american in themselves. But that does not mean, we, Armenians must opposs USA. USA is not anti-armenian in itself. The West is not anti-armenian, even though that may seem so sometimes.
Russia is not anti-armenian, but is not pro-armenian neither. Russia seeks control and power over the former Soviet nations. We, Armenians, must keep close relations with Russia, but not submit ourselves to them neither. That’s foolish. We should be as independant as possible. Neither pro-West, nor pro-Russia. Just pro-Armenian.
Self determination and the aspiration of people is paramount. The logic of “Territorial Integrity“ the Ukrainian Government and Western powers are applying in the case of Crimea is based on selfish and self serving policies that hold little substance. The people of Crimea have spoke like the brave citizens of Karabakh, have done some twenty years earlier. President Serzh Sarkisian has done the right thing! Next is recognizing Artsakh as a free and independent country! That is more important for Armenians!
Armenia – Bevere of the US and NATO !.
Prepere for the Worst scenarios !.
Arn.Sweden.
Crmea was and is part of Russia, Putin has taken the rght stepps.
Some russophobes are hallucinating about the day Russia implodes. There is a great deal of hallucinogenic drugs being popped in by some readers. Armenia should be proud that we have a great power as our strategic ally.
Armenia needs an ally, not an owner. Russia is important only for strategic military reasons, and nothing more. We don’t need to copy/paste everything going on in Russia right now, and this CU was the result of a totally failed and spineless leadership that didn’t bother thinking of the consequences of their actions before doing them.
Make no mistake: Russia is an important entity for Armenia, but not outside of the military sphere. The amount of “handing over” Armenia has done to Russia makes a “partnership” with Russia impossible. They do what they want to us, and we have to pay for it no matter what the cost, even if it is against our immediate interests and if people are being stretched much further than they can go. The Russian-Armenian relationship is not an alliance, it’s a slave-master relationship and we have this irrational love for the Kremlin as the “savior” of Armenian when in reality its economic policies are helping destroy us from within.
All this proves that Sarkisian is afraid to upset Putin. This kind of leadership is not good for Armenia. We need a true leader who is not afraid to speak about his toughts. Sarkisian is acting like Putin is his master.
We have a strong ally in Russia. We do what they want at all costs otherwise they’ll hand Karabagh over to Azerbaijan.
God bless the Russian-Armenian alliance and protect it from all enemies foreign and domestic.
After sixty years, we saw the reunification of Crimea with Russia. It was a wonderful event for all self-respecting Russians. By correcting the mistakes of Communism, Moscow also set a wonderful precedence for Armenians of Artsakh. It is my opinion that as long as Yerevan preserves its strategic ties with Moscow and works to cultivate better Russo-Armenian relations, we Armenians will sooner-or-later also see a similar reunification of Artsakh with Armenia – with full Russian backing. But, first thing’s first: Before we expect Russians to assist us in such a manner, we as a people need to rid ourselves of our Asiatic ways, Russophobia, political ignorance and Western agents. As long as Armenia flirts with the political West and continues to host an army of Western operative and organizations, Moscow will keep Armenia vulnerable, dependent and on a very short leash. Today, Armenia’s “complimentary politics” is a serious liability for Armenia. This is no longer the 1990s. The West is in a decline. For the foreseeable future, we will have to live with a resurgent Bear. The good news for us is that Russian and Armenian interests align. Moscow needs Armenia as a southern fortress protecting Russia’s vulnerable underbelly from Western inroads, pan-Turkism and Islam. Our enemies and their enemies are essentially the same. Armenia today has a strategic partner that is a global superpower, and one that is the alpha and the omega of Caucasian politics. We need to exploit this historic opportunity for Armenia’s long term benefit. If we want Armenia to prosper one day, we need to stop our pursuit of Western fantasies (democracy, free speech, civil society, gay rights, globalism, etc) and begin to better understand the nuances of geopolitics and Armenia’s place in it. For once let’s stop admiring Jews and let’s start acting like them. Instead of fearmongering about the growth of Russian power, let’s realize that Armenians can be in Russia what Jews are in America.
And if we cant do any of the above and we continue our traditional self-destructive path in politics, I much rather see Armenia get incorporated into the Russian Federation. At the end of the day, it’s better to live with Russians similar to Ossetians or Abkhazians than live like a bunch of endangered gypsies under Turco-Western rule. Armenian independence from Russia means Armenian dependence on Turkey. No Russia in the south Caucasus means no Armenia in the south Caucasus. It’s all that simple. We all need to wake up from our Qaj Nazar fantasies and EUrotic dreams and realize that there are no alternatives to this reality.
You want to be an Armenian in Russia? Pack your bags and move there, you have absolutely no right to even suggest that the country itself should be transferred into another territory.
Unbelievable that people can say self-deprecating things like this yet I’m the one who gets called a “traitor”.
did any of you figure out (how the way you think that any other response would netgatively refleck on the karaback situation you all are blinded by you immense hatred of everything President sargisian does.shame!