The US wages hybrid war in Armenia

The militants who seized the police station in Yerevan are demanded concessions from the authorities. 5 hostages are still in the hands of the bandits. The deputy head of the Armenian police, Major-General Vardan Yeghiazaryan and Deputy Chief of Yerevan Police, Colonel Valery Osipyan, are among the hostages. A group of radicals unsuccessfully tried to join militants at Monday.

Criminals

On Saturday-Sunday night, the police station in the capital of Armenia was captured by militants associated with the group "The Constituent Parliament”. They are demanding the release of their leader Jirair Sefilian, who is under arrest on charges of illegal acquiring and possessing weapons. One policeman was killed during the building’s seizure.

Ringleaders

Jirair Seiflian is a native of Lebanon who arrived in Armenia to take part in the Karabakh war in the early 1990’s. He has experience from fighting in Lebanon. In Karabakh, he became one of the most famous military leaders and enjoys the support of the Armenian diaspora and war veterans of Karabakh. He is harshly critical of official Yerevan's position on the Karabakh issue. Seiflian calls for the resumption of hostilities against Azerbaijan after the April 2016 war. On June 20th, 2016, he was arrested on suspicion of smuggling and possessing weapons.

Sefilian created "The Constituent Parliament”, the radical opposition organization. In 2015, he joined the board of the opposition campaign "New Armenia" which attempted a color revolution using as a pretext that the authorities had initiated a referendum on transitioning to a parliamentary form of government. At the head of the opposition force is Raffi Hovannisian who at the presidential elections of 2013 received more than 36% of the vote. He was born and lived his first 31 years in the USA. After the collapse of the USSR Raffi Hovannisian became the first Minister of foreign Affairs in Armenia. "New Armenia" actively uses the Karabakh problem to accuse authorities of surrendering national positions.

The forces connected to seizing the police station (New Armenia) earlier organized protests against Russian military base in Armenia, supported coup d’etat in Ukraine and took active participation in the protest in the Armenian capital last summer. They are closely connected to the US embassy and the Open Society (Soros Foundation) in Armenia.

The purpose of the operation

These events in Armenia  are part of the strategy of hybrid war used by the US against Continentalist forces, and primarily against Russia. The goal is changing the government or policies of the Armenian authorities to ones less pliable for Russia. Currently, the Russian government is trying to find a formula of compromise between Armenia and Azerbaijan in order to ensure long-term peace, which naturally requires concessions from the Armenian side. The United States, in turn, is using its agents of influence in Armenia and Azerbaijan in order to derail the peace process and kindle war, which would naturally draw in Russia and Turkey.

The activities of armed radicals are a natural element of this hybrid war strategy. The recent attack has multiple objectives: exerting pressure on the Armenian leadership with an eye on preventing compromise on Karabakh; creating a pole of attraction for radical discontent elements which will then be used in a color revolution; using military operations by paramilitary formations to demonstrate the weakness of the government and its inability to control the situation; and strengthening overall opposition sentiment.