(MENAFN- AzerNews) By Akbar Hasanov
The statement of the fact of a crime does not mean the
punishment of the perpetrator. Azerbaijan has repeatedly witnessed
how this life rule works. For more than a quarter of a century, the
entire world community, as well as the co-chairing countries of the
OSCE Minsk Group, have declared respect for the territorial
integrity of Azerbaijan. But nothing was done to put pressure on
Armenia, which kept 20% of our lands under occupation.
In addition, in 1993, the UN Security Council adopted
resolutions on the Armenian-Azerbaijani conflict numbered 822, 853,
874, 884. Each of these resolutions was adopted after each
successive stage of the Armenian aggression against Azerbaijan. The
UN Security Council unequivocally recognized the sovereignty,
territorial integrity and inviolability of the borders of
Azerbaijan, repeatedly emphasized the Azerbaijani belonging of
Karabakh and put forward a detailed demand for the complete
immediate and unconditional withdrawal of the Armenian armed forces
from the occupied territories and the creation of conditions for
the return of the expelled population to their homes.
Armenia ignored all these resolutions. And she got nothing for
it. These were examples of how there is a generally recognized
crime, but there was no punishment for it. Exactly the same thing
we see now. Armenia was again found guilty, but there was no
punishment for what she had done. The point, in this particular
case, is that the Republic of Armenia is named among the countries
helping Russia to circumvent Western sanctions.
The corresponding statement was made by the US State Department
sanctions coordinator James O'Brien. By the beginning of this year,
Russia was able to import certain key categories of electronics at
roughly pre-war levels, according to a US official. We are talking
about chips, processors and integrated circuits. Armenia helps
Russia in this, essentially participating in the war against
Ukraine, against its territorial integrity and sovereignty.
Moreover, in the West, they not only know about all this, but
they tell the leaders of Armenia. I remember that during the visit
of Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan to Germany in early March, he was
strongly recommended to close parallel imports to Russia. According
to the Armenian media, upon returning from Berlin, Nikol Pashinyan
instructed the head of the Central Bank, members of the government
and the head of the State Revenue Committee to close the channels
for circumventing anti-Russian sanctions on the territory of the
republic.
In other words, Pashinyan acknowledged the fact of Armenia's
participation in operations to circumvent Western sanctions. And
how can this be denied, if this fact was openly confirmed by the
head of the Russian government, Mikhail Mishustin, who recently
visited Yerevan.
"Today, trade, economic, investment cooperation between Russia
and Armenia is developing actively, dynamically, despite the
illegal economic sanctions that have been adopted by a number of
unfriendly states," he said.
He added that in January-April the mutual trade increased by 96%
and amounted to almost 140 billion rubles or more than 666 billion
drams. According to Mishustin, it is important to maintain this
positive trend and achieve new record levels in mutual trade.
Which, of course, includes parallel imports, that is, the supply of
the Russian Federation with everything necessary, bypassing Western
sanctions.
Moreover, quite shocking speeches are heard in Armenia. They
pride themselves on helping countries against which the West
imposes sanctions to circumvent them. Tigran Sargsyan, Deputy
Chairman of the Board of the Eurasian Development Bank, ex-Prime
Minister of Armenia, decided to talk about this topic in his latest
interview. He proudly recalled that Armenia has never cut off
economic ties with Iran, despite the sanctions against it.
He did not disclose the details, but the "economic ties" between
the RA and Iran always meant the notorious parallel imports, as
well as other mechanisms of illegal circumvention of Western
sanctions. But what then, what now, no sanctions were imposed
against Armenia by the West. This is the classic crime without
punishment. This is the notorious double standards.
Azerbaijan has always been and remains honest and consistent in
its words and actions. He has never helped Russia bypass Western
sanctions. He often and openly helped Ukraine, both through
political statements and by sending humanitarian aid. Its next
volume has already been delivered to Ukraine today. This is all
that is needed to eliminate the consequences of the flood caused by
explosions at the Kakhovskaya hydroelectric power station. These
are the realities that the West sees. But they do not want to move
from words to deeds, punishing Armenia for its numerous tricks. And
this behavior of the West deprived him of the moral right to any
words of criticism against our country.
---