Constitutional Court: Gas agreements do not contradict Constitution

Armenia’s Constitutional Court (CC) ruled today that the three gas agreements signed on the day of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s visit to Armenia conform to the Constitution of Armenia, RFE/RL Armenian service said.

The CC’s decision was announced today, whereas a few days ago the government said it plans to call a special session of the Armenian parliament to debate ratification of those agreements.

It should be noted that while these documents have not yet been published in Armenia, they are already available on the Russian government’s website. The documents say that the Armenian side assumed an obligation to sign an agreement with Russia’s Gazprom about the sale of remaining 20% of Armenian government-owned shares of ArmRosGazprom Company until January 17 next year. Perhaps this is the reason of the Armenian side’s haste.

Today the Constitutional Court quickly examined the issue of the agreements’ constitutionality: judges spent only a few minutes in the decision room before announcing the decision. Let us remind you that a conclusion of the CC is needed for discussion of interstate agreements in the parliament.

Non-pro-government parliamentary forces consider those agreements dangerous. In particular, they are concerned over Armenia’s obligations under the agreements which say that if Armenia buys Russian gas, it may buy it only from Gazprom as the exclusive right to export gas to Armenia was given to that company.

The non-pro-government parliamentary forces are also concerned that these agreements fully restrict the rights of one side (Armenia), contradict many provisions of the Armenian Constitution and fully serve the interests of the other side (Russia).
Minister of Energy and Natural Resources Armen Movsisian, the chief negotiator of the Armenian side, looked very satisfied when he left the courthouse.

We would remind you that the agreement on the sale and purchase terms of shares of ArmRosGazprom Company and its further activities, the agreement on the price formation order in case of natural gas delivery to Armenia, and the agreement on cooperation on the supply of gas, oil products and rough diamonds to Armenia were signed between the governments of Armenia and Russia in Yerevan.