Sensitive relations between states: Armenia appoints new ambassador to Russia
Պետությունների միջև նուրբ հարաբերություններ. Հայաստանը նոր դեսպան է նշանակում Ռուսաստանում: Կառլո Կոպպոլայի հոդված.
Gurgen Arsenyan, a prominent pro-government Armenian lawmaker, has been appointed as the new ambassador to Russia, just days after resigning from his parliamentary seat. Armenian President Vahagn Khachaturyan signed the appointment decree last Wednesday. In an earlier decree, the president recalled Vagharshak Harutiunyan, who had served as Armenia's ambassador to Moscow since January 2022. Arsenyan had been tipped as Armenia's future ambassador to Russia since last year. In October 2023, he himself confirmed that his appointment was pending Moscow's approval. Arsenyan's appointment comes at a time when tensions between Armenia and Russia are rising over security issues. Armenia has effectively frozen its membership in the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO), accusing the Russian-led alliance of failing to protect its territorial integrity during recent border clashes with Azerbaijan. At the same time, Yerevan has been strengthening its military ties with Western nations, including France and the United States. Additionally, Armenia, which is also a member of the Russia-led Eurasian Economic Union, has recently become more vocal about its potential bid to join the European Union. Arsenyan, a 64-year-old veteran politician and wealthy businessman, has been involved in Armenian politics since the country gained independence in 1991. During this time, he has been affiliated with several major political groups and led his own political party to win seats in parliament in 2003. In the snap parliamentary elections of 2021, Arsenyan was again elected to parliament on the list of Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan’s Civil Contract party. Unlike his teammates, Arsenyan, a member of the parliamentary foreign relations committee, has avoided criticizing Russia over the past year. Moreover, in his public statements he has suggested getting closer to Moscow’s policies, speaking of the need for “mutual understanding.” “We should try to understand them and explain our position to them so that they can understand us,” he once said regarding a growing rift between Yerevan and Moscow over security issues. Previously, however, Arsenyan has openly criticized Russia's efforts to "undermine" Armenia's progress in strengthening its security. Last October, as ambassador-designate, Arsenyan also spoke out against a ban on rebroadcasting state-controlled Russian TV channels in Armenia, when such an idea was floated by another pro-government lawmaker. The 1959-born ambassador-designate was born in Yerevan and graduated from the Armenian State University of Economics in 1980. He was initially an economic manager at a cement-slate factory in the town of Rybnitsa (Moldova), which he continued at Armelektromashsnab in Armenia's Masis region, as chairman of the boards of directors of JV Arsoil and Agrobank JSC. In the early 1990s, he was a member of the Republican Party of Armenia, a member of the party's political council, and a deputy in the Armenian parliament. Later he became the leader of the United Labor Party, later he joined the Prosper Armenia party of the well-known businessman and sports organizer Gagik Tsarukyan. In 2012 he distinguished himself by donating two "Zeneir" aircraft of his own to Artsakh (Nagorno Karabakh). In the extraordinary Armenian parliamentary elections in June 2021, he was elected on the list of the ruling Civil Contract party.
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