Wednesday, July 20 2016 08:30

The Caucasus geopolitics is not directed against its tools - the South Caucasus countries, but against its key beneficiary Moscow, whose rough mistakes allowed turning Armenia and Azerbaijan into very comfortable tools working against Russia, member of the Karabakh Committee, the first Armenian president's national security advisor

Ashot Manucharyan has told ArmInfo.

To recall, on July 17, Artsakh war hero Zhirayr Sefilyan's armed supporters, who are calling themselves "Sasna Tsrer" (The Daredevils of Sasun), seized the building of the Patrol-Guard Service Regiment in Erebuni district of Yerevan. They demand releasing Sefilyan, who was arrested on June 20 on suspicion of acquisition and keeping of weapons and ammunition. The armed group is still holding police as hostages, with Deputy Chairman of Yerevan Police Valery Osipyan among them. The territory of the regiment and all the adjacent streets are cordoned off by the police.

"These rather rough mistakes along with our own authorities' mistakes became more tangible in the post- April period of a big geopolitical game, in which Moscow made a big error. This immediately turned Yerevan into a quite convenient instrument in the global game. The problem is that this game may end in a disaster for both the region and the players themselves," Manucharyan says.

This situation, he says, has been caused by the domestic political situation in Armenia, which is the most complicated one in the post-Soviet space. This has recently been demonstrated by the violence outbreak around Karabakh that claimed hundreds of lives. Manucharyan blames the Armenian authorities, who "had an irresistible impulse to get richer and for that purpose they even managed to sell out the armor vests of the conscript soldiers, who are defending the line of contact with Azerbaijan".

The analyst notes that after the Armenian citizens saw such a criminal behavior of the authorities and took steps to sober the authorities, they came across violence. This time, the authorities have come across a force response themselves, he says.

"In Armenia the authorities traditionally use violence against the citizens, rigging elections and then shooting at the people, who protest against electoral fraud, initiating criminal cases on mass disorders, sending people to jails, beating people in the streets and humiliating their dignity. In this light, I do not understand some politicians who condemn the methods of Sasna Tsrer group. How else is it possible to fight against the violence imposed on the society by the authorities?" he says.