Artak Barseghyan
“Radiolur”
According to Russian President Valdimir Putin’s decree, Ivan Volynkin has been appointed as Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary to Armenia. He will replace Vyacheslav Kovalenko, who served as Russian Ambassador to Armenia since 2009.
Before the appointment Ivan Volynkin worked as Deputy Head of the General Secretariat of the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and served at the Russian Embassy in Georgia before the suspension of Georgian-Russian ties.
Political scientist Sergey Miniasyan believes Volynkin will continue the policy line of his predecessor. According to him, taking into consideration the fact that Moscow views Yerevan as a strategic partner, Armenia may get actively involved in the Russian-Georgian processes as a mediator.
On many occasions the negotiations between the parries have taken place in Armenia, as both Tbilisi and Moscow trust Armenia, he said.
