Political analysts link cancellation of Armenian police boss’ visit to Minsk with Lapshin's case

Karen Karapetyan, Prime Minister of Armenia, has cancelled the planned visit of Vardan Yeghiazaryan, Deputy Chief of the Armenian Police, to Belarus. Political analysts have treated the cancellation of the visit as a response to the extradition of Alexander Lapshin. Political analyst Stepan Safaryan has called it "too soft demarche".

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that Azerbaijan accuses blogger Alexander Lapshin of visiting Nagorno-Karabakh, which Azerbaijan treats as its occupied territory, as well as of public statements in support of the independence of Nagorno-Karabakh.

The Armenian experts ambiguously assess the authorities' reaction to the extradition of Alexander Lapshin.

"Armenia should not have taken to heart an event of propaganda nature," said political analyst Sergey Minasyan, Deputy Director of the Caucasus Institute.

According to him, the decision of the Prime Minister to cancel the Armenian Police Deputy Chief's visit to Minsk is associated with the pre-election period, when the public opinion is taken into account.

The decision made by President Alexander Lukashenko demands response from the Armenian side, believes Artak Kirakosyan, the chairman of the Council of the public organization "Civil Society Institute".

The Alexander Lapshin's case directly relates to Armenia and hurts its interests, "since the fabricated case is based on the blogger's visit to Nagorno-Karabakh, which is not prohibited by the international law," said political analyst Stepan Safaryan, the research director of the Armenian Centre for National and International Studies.

Full text of the article is available on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’.