Political analyst calls Armenia’s restriction of Russian TV broadcasting ‘purposeful step’

Armenia has long embarked on a course of self-isolation from the entire surrounding world, Oleg Kuznetsov, a Russian historian and political analyst told News.Az.

He was commenting on the restriction in Armenia of broadcasting of foreign, mainly Russian, TV channels.

“After coming to power, Nikol Pashinyan, who once advocated global, European democratic values, is now trying to create a state on old religious, national and ideological foundations,” Kuznetsov said.

The political analyst noted that today Armenia’s self-isolation has intensified.

“I must say that the issue of suspending Russian TV broadcasting in Armenia did not arise yesterday or today, it arose quite a long time ago. This issue was raised by Armenian parliamentarians for the first time in 2019, when the Russian Foreign Ministry criticized the glorification of Nazism in Armenia, in particular the propaganda or memorialization of the identity of the Nazi criminal Garegin Nzhdeh. And this initiative turned into a bill, when a memorial plaque to Nzhdeh was demolished in Krasnodar Krai at the end of 2019,” he said.

Kuznetsov pointed out that the final point on the issue was the clashes on the Armenia-Azerbaijan border in July this year. According to him, Moscow did not fall for Armenia’s latest provocations on the border with Azerbaijan.

“This [restriction of Russian TV broadcasting] is another purposeful step of the policy of squeezing Russian influence and presence from Armenia,” he said.

According to the historian, the beginning of the Russophobic policy in Armenia goes back to Soviet times, which continued in the early years of independence with the closure of Russian-language schools.

“And the logical conclusion of all this is now being realized by Nikol Pashinyan. And most importantly, this process is not of some kind of everyday issue, but it was raised at the state level,” he added.

Kuznetsov also stressed that with a reduction in the number of information sources, the authoritarianism of the Armenian ruling regime will strengthen even more, it will make the Armenian society even more closed, cut off from the world integration and civilization processes. “As I understand, in the current military-political realities of Armenia, smart people are not needed, there is a need for soldiers who will defend the existence of Pashinyan's regime,” he concluded.

News.Az 

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