Yerevan /Mediamax/. Former Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili continues commenting on events in Armenia.
“The Caucasus is rapidly changing. Just look at Armenia. The Kremlin does not have the complete control there, and the military control and propaganda are not enough to keep the people from expressing their will. I am afraid Putin will not let go of Armenia so simply. I think he will be out to get Pashinyan in the autumn. We all understand he does not like what is happening in Armenia. Pashinyan is trying to please him in any way possible, but you cannot please Putin,” Saakashvili said in the interview to Novaya Gazeta, timed to the 10th anniversary of Georgian-Russian war.
“What happened in Armenia is what Putin feared the most. No amount of money, no mechanisms were able to hold back the people’s will. Putin had to see that the Armenian youth is very pro-western, English speaking, and naturally distancing itself from Russia. Moreover, there is a widespread discontent in Armenia with the presence of Russian troops. Particularly, when they behave unlike a friendly force, not the way Americans conduct themselves in Western Europe, but as invaders, which angers people in the modern world.
Additionally, Pashinyan is going against CSTO Secretary General Khachaturov and Gazprom Armenia’s chief Kocharyan – the two key Russian pillars in Armenia.
The Kremlin will be trying to overthrow Pashinyan in any case, I have no doubt about that. Pashinyan will find himself in hot water. There will be protest actions, and the oligarchs from Moscow will invest huge money in these processes, and the organized crime in Armenia will be up in arms against Pashinyan.
He has little time to consolidate his power. I think he should have dissolved the parliament when he had the necessary levers and bring in new people. He did not disperse the judiciary and now he’s trying to arrest Kocharyan, but the old system will sabotage all his decisions. He does the right things, but he is not changing the system, and the old system will stop obeying him and start working against him,” said Saakashvili.
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