I Invited Him to Promote 'Rossia Mall': Khachatur Sukiasyan on Serzh Sargsyan

Businessman Khachatur Sukiasyan is in the National Assembly. When asked about the purpose of his visit to parliament, Sukiasyan told reporters that he missed the pastries from the Assembly buffet.

As he was heading to the office of Deputy Speaker Alen Simonyan, Sukiasyan answered several questions from journalists. In particular, reporters were interested in how he would respond to reminders that after his criticism of Serzh Sargsyan, Sukiasyan had also invited him to the opening of 'Rossia Mall', smiling and so on. The businessman responded sternly, stating that he invited not a person but an institution: “I believe that first and foremost, Khachatur Sukiasyan, like any citizen of Armenia, respects and accepts not a person, but the institution. The discussion was about the presidential institution of Armenia at that time. Regardless of who will be the person involved or elected to that institution at that moment, of course, you respect that institution. We will then look at that person's behavior—how that person, as the representative of that institution's rights, has exercised that right, or whether he has taken other rights for himself. I think the person you are referring to has taken other rights; that is already my topic to address, but others should deal with the rest,” said Sukiasyan.

To the observation that he himself had invited Sargsyan to the opening of 'Rossia Mall', as he was the head of that institution, the businessman replied, “Of course he should have come to promote my 'Rossia Mall' because I was significantly affected. Because whenever he comes, you come, and cover [the event].”

When asked whether as a businessman he did not want to support the authorities, which is why he collaborated, Khachatur Sukiasyan responded, “Listen, if we were supporting them, we would have had a normal relationship with them since then. Since the late 1990s until now, I have had no other relationships with those people. Of course, I haven’t been taken hostage; however, problems have been created every time. Well, don’t we all understand well what they have been involved in? Apart from what is granted to a public official by the Constitution, haven’t we understood what else they have done?” said the businessman, answering the question of what they have done, he simply stated, “Everything.”