Freedom House: Armenia is under Russia’s negative influence
Armenia is in a very difficult region in terms of human rights protection, Arch Puddington, senior vice president for research at Freedom House, told the VoA Armenian Service. Presenting the findings of the Freedom in the World 2016, a flagship annual report by the independent watchdog organization, he said, Armenia is surrounded by countries, such as Azerbaijan and Russia that have a very rigid authoritarian system. It is very difficult for democrats to function in such surroundings.” In 2015, Armenia was recognized a “partly free” country, with “not free” media but “free” Internet. Speaking about Armenia’s unchanging “partly free” status in recent years, Arch Puddington accounted it for the pressure and negative influence of Russia as a result of which Armenia preferred the Eurasian Economic Union to the European Union. “Armenia’s leadership feels that they cannot challenge Russia because the latter will treat Armenia the same way as it treated Ukraine and will make the country ungovernable and organize a coup,” the Freedom House official said. Mr Puddington noted that ever since its independence in 1991, Armenia has actually been a semi-democratic country where different forces participated in elections but the winning political force always curbed civil society and prevented its development and restricted freedoms. “Though the pressure by the ruling political force in Armenia was not as extreme as in Azerbaijan, it is enough to obstruct the emergence of a strong opposition and oversee the country’s politics,” he added. Armenia, Georgia and Turkey were recognized as “partly free” countries while the other countries in the region were recognized “not free.”
