Baku, Azerbaijan, July 18
By Elmira Tariverdiyeva – Trend:
The crisis in the Armenia-Russia relations has been recently growing greatly compared to those enthusiastic statements made by both sides about the allegedly strengthening ties between the two countries.
Moscow’s unequivocal proposal made yesterday for Armenia to make the Russian language as the second official language can be cited as example.
Speaker of the State Duma of the Russian Federation Vyacheslav Volodin offered the Armenian authorities to give the official status to the Russian language for the local driving license to be recognized on the territory of Russia.
An important issue for Armenians about the ban on the work of drivers with local driving licenses in Russia was raised at the meeting between Volodin and Speaker of the Armenian Parliament Ara Babloyan.
Russia has passed a law prohibiting drivers with driving licenses issued in their home countries to work on its territory since June 1, 2017.
The State Duma passed a law on July 14 entitling citizens of Kyrgyzstan, as well as other countries where the Russian language is the official language, to work in Russia as professional drivers with local driving licenses.
It is necessary to understand that this law has become almost a catastrophe for poor Armenians, who mainly work in Russia as drivers, to somehow earn money and support their families in Armenia.
Realizing it, Moscow apparently decided to take advantage of the situation and achieve some goals, in particular, to popularize the Russian language in the country that never had the desire to preserve it.
Of course, the Armenian authorities immediately announced that Armenia does not intend to give the official status to the Russian language and thus, solve the problem with driving license.
So, today the issue of recognizing the Russian language as the official language in Armenia can become a barrier between the two countries.