President of the Union of Armenians in Russia (UAR) Ara Abrahamyan has announced the launch of a new unifying platform, the Ararat Alliance Institute, and urged compatriots not to show indifference.

In an interview with Noah’s Ark newspaper, Ara Abrahamyan, who is also a member of the Presidium of the Council for Interethnic Relations under the President of Russia, Chairman of the Information Commission, and UNESCO Goodwill Ambassador, said that “the events that have taken place in recent years in Armenia and in the South Caucasus revealed the urgent need for effective interaction of all patriotic forces of Armenia and the Diaspora in order to stop the destructive processes that are taking place before our eyes in our Motherland, and to develop a single road map for the salvation and further development of Armenia and “Artsakh”.” He noted that a road map is being developed, areas of work are being determined.

By the way, the organizing committee is headed by economist and political scientist Tatul Manaseryan, who, the next day after signing the tripartite Statement of November 10, 2020, proposed to tie Pashinyan and his family to the bench in Shusha next to the monument to the Armenian prime minister, the invader of Shusha, Vazgen Sargsyan, who was killed in 1999. “Catching, beating or killing is not necessary. Their whole family just needs to be tied to the bench of the monument to Vazgen Sparapet and forced all their lives to listen to namaz (Muslim prayer) in Shusha several times a day. This is worse than a death sentence,” Tatul Manaseryan wrote on his Facebook page.

Faktyoxla Lab. has tried to find out what this idea of ​​the president of the Union of Armenians in Russia is and what it will lead to.

Abrahamyan declares that he allegedly wants:

- to unite the intellectual, organizational, material and other resources of the world Armenians;

- to strengthen and develop Russian-Armenian relations, horizontal ties with the structures of the global Armenian diaspora.

Abrahamyan believes that this requires:

- reformat relations with Armenia, which, in his opinion, is going through hard times in its history;

- wake up the Armenian people;

- to unite in the name of building a strong and free state, leaving aside personal preferences.

But the question arises, why does Abrahamyan need another “unifying platform” for Armenians, if there is one already in Russia? If there are not enough Armenians in Russia to implement this or that idea, then why should the world Armenians unite on the platform created by Abrahamyan? Why and against whom is Ara Abrahamyan really “uniting” and “strengthening”?

Let’s start with the fact that the president of the Union of Armenians in Russia has a quite rich biography, which can be found on the Internet.

Another thing is interesting. Having created the Union of Armenians in Russia in 2000, he was never able to unite the influential Armenian diaspora under his wing. In 2013, representatives of the Armenian community demanded his resignation, among other claims, there were: “the lack of an adequate response from the UAR to the anti-Armenian messages of the Russian media and the violation of the civil and national rights of Armenians in Russia.” In 2015, a collection of signatures began demanding the resignation of the president of the Union of Armenians in Russia, Ara Abrahamyan, and his deputy, Levon Mukanyan. The text of the petition says that since Abrahamyan assumed the role of the head of the Armenian diaspora in Russia, it has hardly developed. One of the reasons for the demand of the Russian-Armenian public for the resignation of Abrahamyan was the absence of any position regarding the murder of six people committed in 2015 in Gyumri by Valery Permyakov.

But the Union opened the doors to the highest offices in Moscow for him, as the "leader" of the Armenian community. Using his organization and connections, he began to "patronize" some Armenian entrepreneurs, ranging from large businessmen to small fruit sellers in the open-air markets. Such activities of the newly-minted “Armenian patriot” did not please all Russian Armenians, who were often deprived of their property and funds for the benefit of the companies of Abrahamyan and his family members for tacit patronage. Things got to the point that the two largest Armenian billionaires in Russia - Abrahamyan and the owner of the Tashir group of companies Karapetyan - quarreled over the famous Moscow Georgian restaurant Aragvi.

On the other hand, Abrahamyan always dreamed of a political cover for his activities. Big money allowed him to become a rather influential public figure in Russia, to become a UNESCO Goodwill Ambassador, a member of various forums and councils at high Russian authorities.

But, interestingly, he did not manage to achieve political weight in Armenia. Despite the fact that in Armenia, during the reign of Kocharyan-Sargsyan, he managed to make his brothers (Gagik and Armen) first a high-ranking official, and then a member of parliament, he failed to gain significant influence on the internal political life of the country. “I have repeatedly noted that my decision to help Armenia through participation in elections and in political power is not due to motives for achieving any high position or title, I simply do not need it. All my steps are aimed at voicing the problems of ordinary citizens of Armenia and their solution,” Abrahamyan said in 2016.

Then Nikol Pashinyan came to power in Armenia, who did not hide his pro-Western sympathies. Therefore, he did not need people like Abrahamyan.

But the Second Karabakh War began and Abrahamyan was in demand in his historical homeland. Together with other wealthy representatives of the Armenian diaspora in Russia, he became notorious for paying for illegal supplies of weapons to Armenia. Moreover, he made a statement on behalf of the Union of Armenians in Russia about the readiness of 20,000 Russian Armenians to go to the front to fight against Azerbaijan. The General Prosecutor’s Office of Azerbaijan put the head of the Union of Armenians in Russia, Aru Abrahamyan, on the international wanted list for such activities.

After the tripartite Statement of November 10, 2020 was signed, Abrahamyan actually began a struggle for power in Armenia, unleashed an open war against Pashinyan and his team, accusing them of betrayal and treason. “Non-systemic people are in power in Armenia. All presidents have passed problems to each other, not solved them. The result of this was the coming to power of Pashinyan, who throughout his reign constantly refers to the mistakes and shortcomings of the “former” person in power. Although he had enough time to resolve issues that concern the citizens of the country. Pashinyan’s rule, the daily loss of faith, people’s trust in each other, the deterioration in living standards is a separate issue, the catastrophic damage from all this is still difficult to assess,” he says.

He also accused all the former presidents of Armenia Levon Ter-Petrosyan, Robert Kocharyan, Serzh Sargsyan of mediocrity and distancing from traditional friendship and alliance with Russia, proclaiming himself the only stronghold of the strategic ally.

Another manifestation of Abrahamyan’s interest is the south of Russia, more precisely the Krasnodar and Stavropol regions of the Russian Federation. It is under his leadership that the Armenian political maneuvers, wrapped in socio-cultural programs, are becoming more and more intense in southern Russia. The Armenians have long considered these territories to be their own, and in fact the region has already become Armenian, it remains only to consolidate this process at the political level.

For example, on September 12, 2021, in the city of Pyatigorsk (Stavropol Territory), under the chairmanship of the President of the All-Russian Public Organization "Union of Armenians in Russia" Ara Abrahamyan, an interregional meeting of the leaders and activists of the regional branches of the UAR and other Armenian supposedly "national-cultural" organizations operating in the regions of Russian Federation, included in the North Caucasian and Southern federal districts, took place. The largest delegation at the meeting was the delegation of the Regional Branch of the UAR of the Krasnodar Territory, headed by the chairman of the branch, or rather the Armenian emissary Kamo Hayrapetyan.

Being in Russia and remaining a citizen of the Russian Federation, Abrahamyan for some reason devoted most of his speech to the situation in Armenia and Azerbaijan’s Karabakh, from which the Armenians, as is known, tried to create a quasi-state of “Artsakh.” The Armenian media of Russia write: "The speech of the President of the UAR Ara Abrahamyan touched upon various issues and tasks facing the Armenian diaspora of Russia. In particular, they spoke about the critical socio-political and economic situation in Armenia and “Artsakh” and the need for the effective participation of the UAR in problems facing the two Armenian states."

A logical question arises: why the Armenian diaspora of the Russian Federation should resolve issues related to two foreign states - Armenia and Azerbaijan, given that Karabakh ("Artsakh") is a part of Azerbaijan. What does "active participation of the UAR" in the affairs of other states mean? After all, the UAR is a public diaspora organization, and not the apparatus of the President of the Russian Federation.

"Karabakh has never been part of Azerbaijan. Of course, Turkey and Azerbaijan turned out to be stronger together and captured part of it, but Armenia will one day return these territories. Karabakh will not remain in the hands of Azerbaijan. We will appeal to international courts, we will achieve that to hold Azerbaijan accountable for the consequences of the war, for war crimes, for violating all norms of international law... The Azerbaijani people are in euphoria today, but it will play a cruel joke on them," Abrahamyan said in February last year.

In a word, the UAR, under the leadership of Ara Abrahamyan, conducts subversive activities and, without asking anyone, interferes in the affairs of other sovereign states, ignoring the official bodies and interests of the Russian Federation itself.

President of the Union of Armenians in Russia Ara Abrahamyan is already creating the Youth Association of the Union of Armenians in Russia and the Federal National-Cultural Autonomy "ArmRos". It should not be ruled out that this united Armenian wave at the right time will support the project of creating a national-cultural autonomy of Armenians in the Krasnodar Territory. After all, no matter how much the Armenians pretend to be Russians, they still think differently, they have different values, and they actually consider Armenia their homeland. They don't adapt, they spread and impose their values.

In Russia, especially in the Krasnodar Territory, many Armenian cultural centers, churches, khachkars have already appeared, they hold their own holidays, campaigns and events.

People like Abrahamyan incite Armenians to a new war with Azerbaijan, instead of calling for peace the people of Armenia, which is practically at enmity with all neighboring countries, to learn lessons from the current situation, to abandon the criminal ideology of fascism, tseghakronism, nzhdeism, to abandon territorial claims to foreign lands and resources.

Given the above-mentioned facts, it is safe to conclude that the launch of the new unifying platform "Ararat Alliance Institute", like other politicized network Armenian organizations that are being created in Russia is:

- a serious bid to increase its influence in Russia, which has already reached a dangerous level;

- will be directed against Azerbaijan and Turkey;

- will warm up the revanchist mood both in Armenia itself and in the Diaspora.