ArmeniaNow After their warm meeting in Armenia last week (when President Serzh Sargsyan even told his Georgian counterpart Mikheil Saakashvili that Armenia tries to borrow many things from Georgia), this week the two South Caucasus leaders made two extremely controversial statements directed at Russia and its president.

On January 25, during a live TV program President of Georgia Mikheil Saakashvili repeatedly criticized “the occupation of Abkhazia and South Ossetia” by Russia. He compared Russia with ‘a crocodile’ which is ready to ‘swallow his country’ (Georgia). According to Saakashvili, Russia is becoming weak gradually.

Speaking about Russian-Georgian relations, Saakashvili called Russia “an occupier and enemy” country, which has not finished the war yet.

Meanwhile, President of Armenia Serzh Sargsyan, in an interview with Russian “Ekho Moskvi” radio station on Wednesday, expressed a viewpoint that Russia may establish peace and prosperity in the region. The president of Armenia stressed that Russia is the biggest player in the South Caucasus.

“I must thank the president of Russia for his continual efforts for a peaceful settlement. Russia is fully capable of restraining the arms race in the region and preventing the resumption of hostilities. It is not accidental that Russia has been involved in the Nagorno-Karabakh negotiations process since the very beginning. The first agreement on ceasing hostilities was signed with Russia’s mediation. And two years after that again with the active participation of Russia, an agreement on strengthening confidence-building measures was signed. Taking into consideration the fact that Russia has such an authority and opportunities in our [South Caucasus] region, we [Armenians] have big expectations from it,” Sargsyan said.

Analysts believe this controversy of opinions about Russia is quite natural, because Saakashvili wants to routinely show that Georgia is independent from Russia, and Sargsyan once again sent a sign of ‘loyalty’ to the Russian authorities.