President, But Hasn't Advanced Beyond the Level of Collective Farm Chairman: Vardan Harutyunyan

Public figure, human rights defender, and journalist Vardan Harutyunyan wrote on his Facebook page:

“The part of Lukashenko's press conference concerning Pashinyan brilliantly characterizes not only Lukashenko as a statesman but also his human qualities. He has been president since 1994 but has not risen above the level of a collective farm chairman. It is well known that private and closed conversations can involve a wide range of discussions. They may be held in a high or low tone, and inappropriate vocabulary can be used in public conversations. They can be intimate, sharp, or even filled with insults. The discussants are free because the conversation is not subject to publication.

A segment from such a closed conversation may be published either with the consent of the participants or in their presence. The person to whom that segment refers should have the opportunity to respond and express their perspective. Otherwise, the publisher is a schemer engaged in gossip.

Belarus is one of the most backward and regressive countries in Europe. Not because the people of this beautiful and worthy country do not know how to live well and build a good country, but because the dictator of that country is devoid of the qualities that befit a statesman and a man.

Lukashenko's (read: Putin's, Nazarbayev's, etc.) behavior once again confirms the fact that we are not where we should be. We are foreigners in the EAEU.

We should not have been there and we should not be there. Our place is in European structures. I see no alternative here. But can we close the EAEU doors and leave with one statement or sudden move? So that Armenia does not suffer and that this shift does not turn into a disaster. Do we know or not know what Putin's Russia represents? Should we take into account the danger that is called Russia? I am confident that we have no path to walk with them, but the connections forged by Serzh Sargsyan and Robert Kocharyan, who have zero legitimacy domestically and are constrained and powerless in foreign communications, must be dismantled with great care and precision.”