The Russian-Armenian agreement created a new situation in the South Caucasus, said Ashot Grigorian, Chairman of the Forum of Armenian Associations in Europe (FAAE). “The situation will fully develop after RF President Dmitry Medvedev’s visit to Azerbaijan,” he said.

Armenian society is showing the following sentiments: the authorities and their supporters are enthusiastic, while others are skeptical. “We think both sides must make one important step they are not actually making. They must combine their efforts to prevent the sale of S-300 systems to Azerbaijan. We have information that there are both proponents and opponents of the deal within Russian elite. If we keep track of officials’ statements we can see that none of them neither confirmed nor refuted the deal,” he said.

“Besides Azerbaijan itself, Turkish Prime Minister Recep Erdogan actively lobbied for the deal. However, Moscow-based pro-Armenian forces launched vigorous activities against the sale of S-300 systems to Azerbaijan, and the deal depends on the result of this struggle. Russian authorities will make a final decision within the next few months. Under the circumstances, we are surprised at the conformist policy by the Armenian authorities and political forces, as well as at the public’s neutrality,” Grigorian said.

“FAAE calls on the Armenian Diaspora leaders, lobbyists, Armenian unions in Russia, Armenian officials and public to oppose the sale of the systems to Azerbaijan and demand respect for interests of Armenia as [Russia’s] most important strategic partner. The major advantage of Armenia’s armed forces is that they have this type of arms. We laughed at the Azeri President’s bravado and threats to attack Artsakh. We knew that this system would not allow any Azeri missile or helicopter to cross the Armenian border. A military balance existed in the South Caucasus due to that. Now it depends on us if this balance remain unchanged or not,” Grigorian said.