Dear Sirs,
In your lead article in today's (November 4th) issue you say, inter alia, that Russia "first entered the republic under the pretext of helping to restart a damaged nuclear power plant". It is hard to find a sentence with so many errors.
The Medzamor power plant in Armenia was not damaged even by the 1989 earthquake. But in 1989, authorities in Moscow, with the concurrence of authorities in Yerevan, decided that it needed safety improvements to bring it close to western safety standards. It seemed cheaper to shut down and bring in cheap natural gas from Turkmenistan by a pipeline through Azerbaijan. This decision took no account of the political realities that have caused so many deaths and so many dislocated people in the last 5 years.
The person most responsible for urging the Russians to help Armenia has been Dr Armen Abagyan, head of the Institute of Nuclear Power Operations in Moscow. Dr Abagyan, born in Stepanekert and with a sister in Yerevan, has succeeded after many years of effort in persuading Russia to GIVE Armenia $69 million to upgrade the power plant. By this act of generosity Russia recognizes full well the positive role that Armenians have played in the USSR for so many years and before that in the Russian state.
I was privileged to visit Medzamor at the suggestion of President Levon Ter Petrossian in July. I joined a team from the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development. My report (to the Andrei Sakharov Foundation of New York and Moscow) is public; the report of my friends and colleagues to the Bank is not. But we were all impressed by the eagerness and dedication to safety of the Armenian staff and the genuine appreciation for the brotherly help that they have received from Russia.
As the plant, blessed by the Catholicos of all Armenians, is being brought to full power this week, I can assure Armenians that the Medzamor reactor number 2 is as safe as any of its type. It will double the amount of electricity available to the hard pressed Armenians, and should enable Armenia to have a more comfortable winter.
This in itself should be a step towards the peace all right minded people desire.
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