MP Rustam Bakoyan: Who Needs Lukashenka?
- 10.02.2022, 8:24
This is what was said at the protest demonstration in front of the Belarusian embassy in Armenia.
On February 9, a protest rally in front of the Belarusian embassy in Yerevan was organised by the National Democratic Pole party, which stands on anti-Russian and pro-Western positions. Also, some members of parliament spoke out against the words of Lukashenka, Belsat reports.
"The dictator of Belarus has sold the country and his personality to Russia in order to extend his own rule a bit, and has become Putin's spokesman. We remind you that president of Belarus Lukashenka called Armenia a not needed (read: worthless) country," the supporters of the organisation said in a message.
Deputies of various factions of the Armenian parliament also criticized Lukashenka.
For instance, Vagarshak Akapyan, a representative of the ruling Citizens' Agreement faction, said that "such words are unacceptable and inappropriate for a president of the country, and such wording is vicious."
"The head of our partner country has no right to express such thoughts against another partner country. I want to remind who needed Armenia during the recent events in Kazakhstan. I am sure that Mr Lukashenka knows better than anyone else who needs Armenia," he said.
His colleague Avik Aghazaryan stated that "people like Lukashenka and Margarita Simonyan are doing a disservice to the Russian government and the Russian state by their activities. Before making such statements, Lukashenka had better take a look at what is being done at the Minsk airport, which looks more like a pigsty".
And another MP Rustam Bakoyan said:
"And who needs Lukashenka? I think that the Belarusian people have asked him that rhetorical question and the processes that have occurred in the country have been an accurate assessment of his past term in office, of the condition in which he was keeping the country and what the result is".
In turn, acting speaker of the Armenian parliament Hakob Arshakyan said that the country is not discussing joining the "Union State".
The conflict arose because in a recent interview with Russian propagandist Vladimir Solovyov, Lukashenka said: "Armenia has nowhere to go. You say someone needs them? They have already seen it. Azerbaijan is out of this cohort, we have made many mistakes there. This is a separate conversation. And it is just that Turkey supports Azerbaijan a lot. Roads, gas, oil go through Turkey...".
Afterwards, the Armenian Foreign Ministry said Lukashenka's peculiar opinion has nothing to do with Armenia and its foreign policy and "is meant only for the domestic political agenda". And the Belarusian ambassador to Armenia, Aliaksandr Kaniuk, was summoned to the Foreign Ministry for a conversation.