My friend, U.S. political scientist and former diplomat Ronald Asmus passed away on April 30. Ron had been fighting cancer for a long time, but had to go at the age of only 53.

First time I met Ron in summer, 2004, in Yerevan. Ron was one of the key figures of the U.S. German Marshall Fund and headed the delegation of American political scientists and researchers, who visited three countries of the South Caucasus, also paying visits to Abkhazia, South Ossetia and Nagorno-Karabakh. That evening Ron and I talked a lot. I was telling him that Western journalists and experts lacked sufficient knowledge about Armenia and very often were guided by stereotypes. Ron suggested that U.S. German Marshall Fund registered subscription for Mediamax “to receive information directly from Armenia and not from third sources”.

Ron and I continued regular communication, we were exchanging opinions on the place of Armenia in the changing world, on the prospects of Armenia’s relations with NATO.

In early 90s, Ron was one of the first to start speaking of the necessity to expand NATO to the East. He became one of the “intellectual architects” of that enlargement, and in 1997-2000 he occupied the position of U.S. Deputy Assistant Secretary of State and dealt with NATO enlargement from practical point of view. Membership of Baltic States in NATO became possible in many respects due to Ron’s persistence.

A year after our first meeting, Ron suggested that I become a member of Black Sea workgroup, in which I had the honor to represent Armenia for 1.5 years. The work in that group allowed me getting acquainted with many people. Exactly here I met Peter Semneby, who had been appointed EU Special Representative in the South Caucasus just recently at that time. When Mediamax takes an interview from Azerbaijani Minister of Foreign Affairs, General Consul of Azerbaijan in Los Angeles Elin Suleymanov helps us to do it. Elin represented Azerbaijan in that workgroup. This list can be continued: Ron opened numerous doors for me and many things, which previously seemed impossible, became possible.

The one but last time I met Ron in February, 2009, at Munich Security Conference. I gave him his book “Opening NATO’s Doors” that we had published in Armenian in 2008. Ron was a very reserved person, but one could see that he was very pleased to see that book in Armenian. He was supposed to arrive in Yerevan for the presentation of the book in 2008, but he did not manage to do that. After that he often told me: “I remember that I owe you a trip to Armenia”. Last time we met absolutely by chance in NATO Headquarters in December, 2009. Ron looked good and said that he was recovering from numerous medical procedures.

Unfortunately Ron did not manage to get over the illness. I lost a friend, a person, who, despite his high position in global experts’ elite, always took me as an equal. I will miss you Ron Asmus and will always be grateful to you for what you have done for me. 

Ara Tadevosyan is the Director of Mediamax.