Unrest in Armenia moves into a new phase

21.07.2016

There is restlessness in the Armenian capital of Yerevan. Last night, supporters of the bandits who seized the police station in Erebuni district, organized a rally in support of them and tried to break through the cordon of police. In dispersing the crowds, 51 people were injured. The riots continued until the early hours of the morning. At 4:00 am local time, police began to arrest the most violent demonstrators. Among them was opposition MP Nikol Pashinyan. It should be expected that protest activity will increase

Strategy of the 'revolution'

Since the capture of the police station, militants have called for public disobedience actions across the country. The actions of the militants, according to the organizers of the attacks, should work as a catalyst for change in power in the republic. Armenian authorities are accused of corruption, political repression and the alleged treachery of the country's position on the Karabakh issue.

Nationalist and Liberal alliance

In social networks, there is significant propaganda which whitewashes the activities of the militants. They are portrayed as patriots who have decided to take extreme measures. The organizers of the attack are veterans of the Karabakh war, their leader whom they want to have released - Jirair Sefilian - is a radical Armenian nationalist, a major warlord in the era of the Karabakh war. Actions of the crowd in support are coordinated by liberals associated with the pro-American party, the Armenian National Congress, former president Levon Ter-Petrosyan, founder of the "Heritage" party of the former Minister of Foreign Affairs, "the Armenian Kozyrev" Raffi Hovannisian, the coalition of the radical pro-Western opposition "New Armenia", which is headed by the Hovannisian also (it includes Sefilian), and the Soros Foundation. There is a classic Maidan spike of militant nationalists and liberals, civil society activists, which proved its effectiveness during the coup in Ukraine in 2014. These are the same people who had previously staged protests against the Russian military base, protests against joining the Russian CU and the EAEC, organized "Electric Yerevan protests" in 2015, and declared the start of the campaign for a change of power in October 2015.

Pro-Western hawks

Currently, pro-Western opposition uses idea of endangered Armenian interests in Karabakh. Liberals and nationalists advocate that Armenia withdraw from the negotiation process, and agitate for the resumption of  war, under the pretext of "liberating the lost territories." In fact, we are talking about drawing Armenia into a war, and trying to draw Russia with it. Of course, Turkey, which supports Azerbaijan, will not remain on the sidelines. Active opposition of Russia to these plans has now been used as "proof" of the supposed anti-Armenian position of this country. The objective, minimally, is a disruption of the Russian peace plan, which envisages a number of concessions from the Armenian side. The objective maximum  - a change of power, unleashing a new war. Russia will be drawn in on the side of Armenia, or, if Russia will not get involved in the conflict, new Armenian leadership will break its alliance with Russia, leave the EAEC, and CSTO, and start a pro-Western reorientation of the country.