Armenian stubbornness: Yerevan blames Putin and Tbilisi
...and ignores simple way out

ANALYTICS  24 November 2022 - 15:31

Armenian truckers seriously intend to accompany the presence of the Russian president in Yerevan with massive protests. Why? What does the Russian president have to do with the problems of drivers in Armenia? One thing is clear: this is a story about greed, stupidity, and stagnation of Armenians, who in general and in particular see a speck in someone else's eye while ignoring the beam in theirs.

To all appearances, it was not easy for Armenian truckers at the Upper Lars checkpoint when Russian border guards suddenly stopped letting their trucks to Russia, and vice versa. According to Armenian media reports, the truckers will express their outrage in slogans they will use to protest in order to attract the attention of the Russian president. They strongly hope that Putin will take pity on the "poor Armenians" and solve their problem - i.e. make the Upper Lars crossing easier for them. Truckers and entrepreneurs, cargo senders, are desperate - they are losing both time and money, and claim that "Pashinyan's inaction and distrust of the government have forced them to appeal to Vladimir Putin."

The tragicomic situation as portrayed by the local media is unlikely to be so in reality. The problem with the mountainous Upper Lars, where there are either snowfalls and rockfalls or impassable slush, is very old, and there is simply no other way to the "big world". Well, who is to blame if not Putin, who is widely criticised in Armenia, and now is asked for help? And all under the guise of the ill-fated Upper Lars. According to the Armenians, the current delay at the mountain crossing looks like some kind of conspiracy - for 25 days now, Armenian cargoes have been diverted and stopped on secondary, unused roads in both directions from the Lars checkpoint in Georgia. So to say, it does not come to customs, i.e. even before the inspection, the trucks from Armenia are not allowed to enter the territory of the Russian Federation. And if the Armenians do get to the checkpoint itself, they are searched like hell... The reason for this attitude is not known for certain, but rumour has it that it is mainly trucks with Armenian number plates that are detained.

According to "Yerevan.Today" newspaper, on November 23, several trucking companies informed about their plans to take action, making no secret of the fact that many exporting businessmen support them. Traders and transport operators are sure that Russian authorities do not fully understand the situation, and do not track the number of vehicles entering their territory, to understand those Armenian carriers are genuinely oppressed... by Georgians.

Yes, now the Georgians too. Eternally disgruntled Armenians are showing their mettle: now their representatives are alternately attacking Russia and Georgia. In general, the Armenian media sees a hidden trick in Tbilisi's actions: in their view, Georgia is cheating and is filling the Russian market with its goods, taking advantage of the fact that there is a gap there because of stale or perishable Armenian products.

Meanwhile, it turned out that one of the main official reasons for such a biased attitude and sometimes blocking of Armenian trucks on the Russian side of the checkpoint is the alleged involvement of Armenians in the explosion on the Crimean bridge. So one can understand the Russian border guards, given the Armenian passion for terror.

In principle, everything is fair and just - Armenians are paying for their own crimes, but instead of abandoning extremism and revanchism, Armenian businessmen and truckers keep assigning the blame for their misfortunes exclusively outside the country. As the Armenians conclude, "at the behest of the Georgian authorities, the cycle of economic circulation between the EEU countries has been artificially disrupted for a whole month, and a number of laws under the EEU Charter are not in force." That is, in this very illustrative example, Armenians, according to their usual inadequate logic, imagined a new world conspiracy against them - the long-suffering and eternally oppressed by someone.

Armenia has already organized a choral "jeremiad" on the subject. Who would have doubted it, though? Everyone is howling and moaning, and economists say that exporters and importers of Armenia are in economic collapse, since violation of supply terms will lead to their displacement from the Russian market, all the more so because the current time is very tense for any kind of commerce.

In other words, this is a more than a vivid example of the algorithm of Armenians' reactions - if there is a local problem, Armenians are ready to vehemently blame their closest neighbours.

Yerevan journalists have already got to the point of saying that "in fact, Armenian businessmen have been in distress for a month now because of humiliation by the Georgian authorities, and not a single minister has ever seen fit to go on site, no effective steps have been taken, but during meetings, the Speaker of the National Assembly in Georgia states that Armenian-Georgian relations have never been so good."

That is, everyone around is to blame for Armenians, but most of all, Georgians and Putin. At the same time, despite abundant complaints and truckers' shows, Armenians do not think to solve this problem constructively. They seem not to understand that for those who really want to live well, the best thing to do is to rush to the government building and beg for the opening of the Zangazur corridor. If this happens, all problems of delivery of goods will be solved immediately, because the road from Russia through Azerbaijan to Armenia is as comfortable and reliable as possible, in contrast to the mountainous Upper Lars, which has no ability to serve intensive traffic flows due to banal weather conditions, so the winter is always the most problematic time for any cargo at this checkpoint.

So conspiracy or not, Lars is long and tightly congested, and the weather here is capable of cutting off Georgia, and therefore Armenia, from Russia for a long time.

The Armenian ability to twist the facts and brazenly demand on this basis some benefits for themselves is often astounding. And this time too, Armenians simultaneously swear at Russia and at the same time expect handouts and protection from it. Russia lobbies for the opening of the Zangazur corridor for two years in order to get an opportunity to transport its cargo, including Armenia, via an alternative convenient way, avoiding snowdrifts and blizzards on Lars. But Yerevan, contrary to logic, is against this simple way out. Yerevan political elite, overwhelmingly echoing the threats of revanchists, is totally against the Zangazur corridor, seeing in it some kind of "existential" threat to their homeland, as Armenians like to say.

Well, if it suits you to stick to masochism and suffer in isolation, crying "God gracious!" because of a trucker relative freezing at the Upper Lars checkpoint then go ahead. But do not blame anyone - Georgia, Russia, Azerbaijan... You, your stubbornness are the problem. And if the indignant truckers are dispersed at your improvised rally like stray dogs, and Putin's escort squeamishly avoids this funny gathering - do not be surprised, since everything is fair: you got what you fought for. Fools are fools, they observe no rules.

Caliber.Az