Zohrab Mnatsakanyan spoke about the reasons for the non-participation  of the Armenian leadership in events dedicated to the 80th  anniversary of the outbreak of World War II in Poland

ArmInfo. Armenian Foreign Minister Zohrab Mnatsakanyan did not agree with the wording that Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan rejected the invitation to go to the  economic forum in Poland.

So, on August 29 in Yerevan, in an interview with reporters in  parliament, to clarify whether the Foreign Ministry was informed of  the reasons for rejecting the invitation, Mnatsakanyan in particular  said: "The issue here is not the rejection: here is the question of  sovereignty. We did not decline the invitation. The Prime Minister  has his own the program of visits that is being implemented, the  internal agenda of priorities and when we compare them (meaning most  likely the invitations received - ed.), we need to analyze how to  deal with them, taking into account foreign policy and domestic  political priorities Children. Based on the foregoing, we did so. "

He also expressed bewilderment over the possibility of pressure on  the prime minister on the issue of participation in events dedicated  to the 80th anniversary of the outbreak of World War II. "The issue  here is also fundamental. In the case of World War II, we represent a  country that had a direct connection with these events, a direct  involvement and I'm sure that now there's no need to talk in detail  about how Armenia and the Armenian people contributed to the victory  in this war, being a part of the Soviet Union and the Soviet Army at  that time, and we are somewhat scrupulous about how this issue is  reflected in essence at different sites. Our grandfathers fought, we  had marshals, generals, Heroes of the Soviet Union.  We brought huge  we were dead then, we were part of the Soviet army and fought against  Nazism, defending our united homeland, and it is quite natural that  this topic is very sensitive for us, "Mnatsakanyan summed up. On the  eve of ArmInfo it was reported that the Prime Minister of Armenia  Nikol Pashinyan will not take part in the celebrations that will be  held in Warsaw on September 1. "The Prime Minister did not receive an  invitation to participate in events dedicated to the outbreak of  World War II in Poland," said spokesman for the head of government  Vladimir Karapetyan to ArmInfo.

And the Armenian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Anna Naghdalyan told  ArmInfo that the head of the Armenian government will not take part  in the 29th international economic conference, which will be held on  September 3-5 in the Polish city of Krynica-Zdroj. Meanwhile, the  conference website reported that Nikol Pashinyan was among those  invited to the forum and would be one of the important guests of the  event. Later it became known that the President of Armenia Armen  Sargsyan received the invitation, but his participation in the event  is not planned.

Note that as early as March 19 this year according to UNIAN, the  press secretary of the President of Poland, Blazh Spychalski, said  that only members of the European Union, NATO and the Eastern  Partnership states - Belarus, Moldova, Ukraine, Armenia, Azerbaijan,  should be invited to the solemn events to be held in Warsaw on  September 1 , Georgia. Without Russia, he specified. In July 2019,  the press service of Polish President Andrzej Duda issued a statement  stating that Poland intends to meet the dramatic events of 80 years  ago with countries with which it closely cooperates "in the interest  of world peace."

US President Donald Trump and German Federal Chancellor Angela Merkel  are expected to arrive in Poland this year in particular. The  participation of the official delegation of Ukraine, which also  received invitations from Andrzej Duda, was also confirmed by the  office of President Vladimir Zelensky.  Meanwhile, President of  Belarus Alexander Lukashenko will not take part in these events.  According to the Polish publication Rzeczpospolita, Lukashenko  refused to visit Poland, because the Polish authorities did not  invite Russian President Vladimir Putin to events in Warsaw.