make preferableFirst of all, this is a journalist's opinion, I emphasize, an opinion. Secondly, this opinion was expressed by a journalist or a TV presenter, but it was expressed on the air of the private TV channel Solovyov LIVE. Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) spokesperson Maria Zakharova stated during a press briefing Thursday, as she commented on well-known Russian TV presenter and journalist Vladimir Solovyov controversial statement about Armenia and the countries of Central Asia.
"Thirdly, I read the quotes. I did not rely on expressions taken out of context or indirect speech. I relied on direct speech. So, this opinion was actually worded as a question. It was not a statement. It was more of a question. I don’t know if it was rhetorical or something else. Don’t ask me about that. Among other things, fourthly, these statements were clearly, absolutely obviously provocatively presented by home-bred analysts, almost as if the official position of Russia.
You know, it is simply unacceptable to engage in such manipulations,” added the spokesperson of the Russian MFA. According to Zakharova, some commentators clearly took the opportunity to “publish in the media space a whole series of assumptions and outright assumptions that have never been voiced in this or any other broadcast, about Russia’s alleged aggressive intentions towards the post-Soviet states, as I have even seen in some reports.”
“You know, in this regard, I would like to emphasize once again that the official position is expressed by officials authorized for this. As for Russia’s official position, the Russian leadership has voiced it dozens of times regarding our policy in the context of our shared Soviet past, the post-Soviet space, and relations with sovereign states at present. Let me say again: in my opinion, this position has been voiced tens of thousands of times at various summits, meetings, negotiations, consultations, press conferences, and interviews by the President of the Russian Federation, the Prime Minister, the Foreign Minister, the Minister of Defense, and all kinds of ministers of our country.
Well, I don’t think I can list them all, but I will say that we [i.e. Russia] maintain a regular dialogue through structures operating in the post-Soviet space, such as the CIS and the CSTO. In this regard, I would like to remind that the CSTO has a format for meetings of the secretaries of the Security Council.
Of all people, it is precisely these structures, the people who lead them, and the numerous experts working there who discuss the security issues of our region. Therefore, I simply cannot address all of that by making a reference to these position statements or those messages. I will briefly summarize what has been said countless times: our country and the peoples of the South Caucasus and Central Asia are historically linked by good-neighborly relations, strategic partnership, alliance, brotherly friendship and cooperation.
The key to the progressive development of our ties is good, personal contacts—based on mutual respect and trust—between the leaders of friendly states,” Zakharova stated. In this regard, she also called for “judgment by case.” “How many times have they come to the rescue? How many times have they extended a helping hand, a hand of friendship? How many times have they shown the most sincere feelings when they empathized and sympathized?
How many times have they shown sincere, most sincere feelings when they shared joy, when they shared common victories and the victories of our partners and friends in the post-Soviet space? How many times have we together sought solutions in the most complex, seemingly dead-end situations? How many times have we overcome incomprehension and misunderstandings? How many times have we responded to the challenges of provocateurs and provocations?
That's what we need to focus on. Exactly on them...Unfortunately, there will be a lot of provocations. So let's see the real situation and not believe some falsifications and fakes," the Russian MFA spokesperson said. Well-known Russian TV presenter and journalist Vladimir Solovyov recently stated that "the loss of Armenia is not in Russia's interests, and Russia should carry out a special military operation not only in Ukraine, but also in the territories of Russia's zone of influence, ignoring international law." And the Russian ambassador to Armenia, Sergey Kopyrkin, was summoned to the Armenian MFA, where he was handed a note of protest regarding Solovyov's aforesaid statements.
