Serzh Sargsyan's stance on Crimea is a display of political shortsightedness, Raffi Hovannisian, Leader of Heritage Party, said at a Roundtable on Ukraine organized by the Armenian Center of National and International Studies (ACNIS).
According to Hovannisian, Russia's actions in Crimea was nothing but violation of the norms of the International Law and constitute threat to security in both the region and the world. The Armenian authorities, in turn, should not side with the Kremlin, but decisively protest against falsification and distortion of the norms of the International Law. The politician is sure that when it comes to the principle of the people's right to self-determination, no parallels can be drawn between Artsakh and Crimea. "They have nothing in common. Artsakh and Crimea can be compared only if Russia annexes Nagorno Karabakh!" Hovannisian said.
To recall, Serzh Sargsyan in a phone talk with Vladimir Putin on 19 March said: "The Crimea referendum is another case of exercise of peoples' right to self- determination via free expression of will."