Russian President Vladimir Putin telephoned Robert Kocharian, Armenia’s former president facing criminal charges criticized by Moscow, to congratulate him on his 64th birthday anniversary on Friday.
The Kremlin reported no other details in its official readout of the phone call that came two weeks after Kocharian pledged to return to active politics and challenge the current Armenian government.
Putin’s press secretary, Dmitry Peskov, denied any connection between the conversation and recent political developments in Armenia.
“As you know, for many years Putin and Kocharian have been maintaining warm relations that are not influenced by any events taking place in Armenia,” Peskov told reporters in Moscow, according to Russian news agencies. He said that the two men did not discuss the criminal proceedings against Kocharian and two other former Armenian officials.
The latter were charged in late July with illegally using the armed forces against opposition supporters that demonstrated in Yerevan in the wake of the disputed February 2008 presidential election. Eight protesters and two police servicemen died when Armenian security forces broke up those protests on March 1-2, 2008.
Kocharian, who strongly denies the charges, was arrested on July 27. An Armenian appeals court freed him from custody on August 13, saying that he enjoys legal immunity from prosecution. Prosecutors have asked the higher Court of Cassation to overturn that decision.
Later in July, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov denounced the prosecutions of Kocharian, former Defense Minister Mikael Harutiunian and former Deputy Defense Minister Yuri Khachaturov. He said they run counter to the new Armenian leadership’s earlier pledges not to “persecute its predecessors for political motives.”
Moscow seemed particularly irked by the criminal case against Khachaturov, who currently serves as secretary general of the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO). A Kremlin official said that Yerevan dealt a “colossal blow to the image” of the Russian-led alliance.
Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian, who played a key role in the 2008 protests, downplayed the Russian criticism on August 10. He said Moscow should “adapt” to the new political realities of Armenia.
Harutiunian, the other indicted general, is thought to live in Russia. The Interfax news agency reported on Friday, that Moscow has refused to extradite him to Armenia on the grounds that he is also a Russian citizen. A spokesman for Armenian prosecutors effectively denied the report, however, saying that they are unaware of Harutiunian’s whereabouts.
Kocharian, who ruled the South Caucasus state from 1998-2008, announced his political comeback three days after his release from prison. On Friday, he also confirmed his participation in snap parliamentary elections that are due to held next spring.
In an interview with the Russian news agency Sputnik, the ex-president again declared his ambition to become one of the country’s top opposition leaders. He did not rule out his cooperation with the Republican Party (HHK) of Serzh Sarkisian, who succeeded him as president in 2008 and was ousted from power by Pashinian-led protesters in April this year.
Kocharian further accused the new government is damaging Armenia’s close relationship with Russia. In particular, he pointed to Pashinian’s participation in a NATO summit in June.
Kocharian noted in that regard that Pashinian and his allies strongly criticized Armenia’s membership in the CSTO and another Russian-led bloc, the Eurasian Economic Union (EEU), before they came to power in May. “In his team, hardly anyone has not been a carrier of different geopolitical approaches in the past,” he said. “All of them are individuals who have received Western, NATO grants.”
Pashinian has repeatedly ruled out a major change in Armenia’s traditional foreign policy orientation. He has also denied critics’ claims that Russian-Armenian relations have soured during his tenure.
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