Forecast: Membership in the Union State will lead to the loss of a  number of rights of Armenia

ArmInfo. Membership in the Union State of the Russian Federation and Belarus will lead to the loss of a number of rights by Armenia. A similar opinion was  expressed to ArmInfo by head of Analytical Centre on Globalization  and Regional Cooperation Stepan Grigoryan.

"I personally assess such a prospect as a very real threat to the  sovereignty and statehood of Armenia. By joining the Union State, we  will lose the right to fight for the rights of the Artsakh Armenians,  to fight for the international recognition of the Genocide, the right  to speak with the world about the aggression of Azerbaijan, in the  event of another invasion of their Armed Forces on our territory. Our  people are still reassured by the thought of protection from the  Russian Federation, but the last year and a half have shown that such  hopes, to put it mildly, are not fully justified," he stressed.

In this light, assessing the prospect of Armenia's membership in the  Union State of Russia and Belarus, the political scientist noted that  such a scenario threatens the existence of Armenians as a nation. He  also emphasized the unconstitutionality of such a step, recalling  that the current Constitution of Armenia does not provide for the  rejection of any elements of sovereignty.

In this light, commenting on the statement of the Belarusian  President Lukashenko, which caused an extensive public negative  resonance in Armenia, Grigoryan described his emphases as a serious  challenge for Armenia. In this context, the political scientist  called on the Armenian government for a symmetrical response to this  statement. In his opinion, the response of the country's Foreign  Ministry did not reflect the existing realities. And his softness  creates the impression that Lukashenko was right and nobody really  needs Armenia today.  On February 7, in an interview with Vladimir  Solovyov, President of Belarus Alexander Lukashenko, commenting on  the possibility of Armenia joining the Union State of Russia and  Belarus, said that Armenia "has nowhere to goyou think anyone needs  them?  They have seen. Nikol [Pashinyan] has seen it," he said. On  February 8, Belarusian Ambassador Alexander Konyuk visited the  Armenian Foreign Ministry in this regard.

"I am personally inclined to link such behavior of Mr. Lukashenko  with a mistake made at the time by the Prime Minister of Armenia  Pashinyan, who hastened to congratulate him on, to put it mildly, a  very dubious victory in the last presidential election in Belarus.  Back then, I criticized him for this, pointing out the  inadmissibility of legitimizing this action, which has nothing to do  with the expression of the people's will. And today we are reaping  the fruits of our own unscrupulousness. I am convinced that in this  way Pashinyan tried to change Lukashenko's attitude towards Armenia.  But even then it was clear that the Belarusian leader would never  change it," he said.