Armenian police use water cannons on protesters in Yerevan, Armenia, June 23, 2015. Anadolu Agency/Getty Images
Thousands of Armenians continued to protest in the capital Yerevan on Wednesday, with smaller demonstrations held in several other cities. The protests began last Friday, in outraged opposition to the state utilities commission’s June 17 decision to raise electricity prices by 17%-22% starting on August 1. So far the demonstrators’ rationale is narrow — to get the government to renounce the price increase — but the potential is there for a broader protest against the Russian-allied government.
Armenians are fed up with price hikes while their economy continues to struggle. This one would be the third in the past two years, while unemployment was reportedly 17% in 2014 and has been rising. One main factor is that Armenia has cast its lot with Russia, which now features prominently in the economic problems facing the impoverished and landlocked country. The planned electricity price increase was requested by Electric Networks of Armenia, which has a monopoly on distribution. That utility is fully owned by Russian company Inter RAO, which is headed by Igor Sechin, a close ally of President Vladimir Putin.
Furthermore, the combination of Western sanctions and low oil prices caused the Russian ruble to lose half of its value in 2014; and Armenians working there suffered in tandem. Accordingly, their remittances sent home have fallen by as much as half in dollar terms. Yet Armenia still joined the Russia-centric Eurasian Economic Union (EEU) at the start of this month. However, negotiations were long-running, and the simultaneous shrinking of the Russian economy was just very bad luck.
Nevertheless, it would be a mistake to think Russia was turning the screws on Armenia politically by charging extortionate electricity prices. Armenia is not like Ukraine or Georgia—it is firmly (and voluntarily) in the Russian camp. Russia even has a large military base in the country. And the EEU has already netted benefits to Armenia’s government— over $40 million since February (before it became a member), and now it receives more funds from the common customs duties than it contributes.
However, it’s not such a leap from protesting the price increase to vilifying the Russian owners and their cronies running Armenia’s government. The protests escalated on Tuesday after police sprayed sitting demonstrators with water cannons. Now a major social media campaign is propelling ever-larger rallies. Russia fears another Maidan-type uprising, in which Ukrainians overthrew their country’s pro-Russian president Viktor Yanukovych last February. An Armenian repeat would be Putin’s nightmare.
