Yerevan July 31
Tatevik Shahunyan. Representatives of the Republican Party of Armenia express their concern over the latest dangerous, by their definition, tendencies in the Armenian-Russian relations.4
Edward Sharmazanov, the RPA spokesman, told the ArmInfo correspondent that the "small" but diplomatically "demonstrative" transfer between the foreign affairs agencies of Armenia and Russia gives reason to think that at present the Armenian-Russian relations experiencing not the best of times. "The same goes for Armenia-CSTO relations," he said. Meanwhile, the vice-speaker reminded, Armenia's strategic partnership with Russia is primarily aimed at serving the state interests of the Republic of Armenia. "We must realize that in the current geopolitical realities, the CSTO does not have an alternative in terms of ensuring Armenia's security," Sharmazanov stressed.
In his turn, another Republican, head of the Committee on Foreign Affairs of the Armenian Parliament Armen Ashotyan wrote on his Facebook page: "No matter how much the RA authorities try to focus society's attention on domestic issues, this reality does not change, and the situation around Armenia and Artsakh continues stay tense. " According to him, the situation was aggravated by the forms and methods of recalling CSTO Secretary General Yuri Khachaturov, as evidenced by a tough diplomatic protocol statement of the Russian Foreign Ministry in response to Armenia's proposal to begin the procedure for changing the secretary general. "Obviously, all these processes negatively affected the image of the CSTO, and the risks of all this were visible from the very beginning," the parliamentarian said, citing the statement of the Russian Foreign Ministry spokesman Maria Zakharova in Baku, where she puts Moscow's relations with one level Yerevan and Baku. "All this cannot but worry, especially against the background of the activation of the Azerbaijani lobby in Russia and the anti-Russian circles in Armenia," Ashotyan said.