People from the region’s hot spots, such as Syria, Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Yemen, continue to immigrate to Armenia. After the start of the Syrian crisis, according to various estimates, more than 90 thousand Armenians left the country. From August 2012 to January 2018, up to 23 thousand Syrian Armenians came to Armenia, of which about 20 thousand settled in the republic. By the end of 2019 - the beginning of 2020, together with the International Center for the Development of Migration Policy in Armenia, the construction of a new refugee shelter will begin. Against the background of resolving internal problems, the republic’s involvement in resolving the situation in Syria itself, where a large number of ethnic Armenians still live, is quite high. The most noticeable geopolitical step of Yerevan was the sending of medical personnel and a group of 83 demining specialists in Aleppo in February. Minefields, unexploded ordnance, improvised explosive devices - the main problem of the liberated territories of the Syrian Arab Republic. Armenian sappers skillfully return these lands to economic circulation. It is natural that Azerbaijan is trying to discredit this humanitarian mission due to the fact that the image of Armenia has grown since its inception. The republic has demonstrated civilization and a willingness to help other allies. Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan called this mission unprecedented in scale Armenian-Russian project. Indeed, such a decision has no precedent in the CIS and the Collective Security Treaty Organization countries. Most allies prefer to distance themselves from Russia's long-term efforts in the Syrian direction, fearing a negative reaction from the United States. But this decision is sovereign and is in full accordance with national interests. |