Marianna Mkrtchyan. The second president of Armenia Robert Kocharian is skeptical of the statements of the Armenian authorities regarding the fact that the Armenian-Russian relations are at a high level.

"I think that if the government declares a high level of relations on any occasion, there are actually problems." Under normal circumstances, it would be pointless to remind of good relations so often. "It seems to me that the authorities in Armenia inadequately assess the situation in the region. On the one hand, sanctions against the friendly countries have been sanctioned by the West. On the other hand, our opponents are becoming increasingly unpredictable. In such a situation it would be a big mistake to try to revise already established relations for years, to seek new alliances with other centers and forces, "Kocharian said in an interview with Sputnik Armenia.

According to him, cooperation with NATO needs to be developed, there can not be two opinions. However, he expressed bewilderment at why the Armenian authorities needed to participate at such a high level in the Alliance summit in Brussels, at a time when NATO-Russia relations were at zero level for, say, selfies in the corridors of NATO, and, thus, generate questions from partners. At the same time, Kocharian believes that now, the leadership of Armenia seems to have come to an understanding of the situation, and it is taking steps to correct it.

"After all, people who came to power in Armenia for many years were against Russia, against Armenia's participation in the EAEU, against the presence of the Russian base here." It's hard to imagine how all this can be changed in one day. And the team almost entirely consists of people who in the past have had completely different geopolitical approaches, almost all of them in one way or another were connected with Western structures and grants. Do you think there is a country that has more security opportunities in this region than Russia? Which has more leverage, influence, military capabilities? I think the answer lies on the surface. Refuse to already built relationships cannot. Those who look back at Brussels are deeply mistaken. Even if there are no far-reaching intentions, and the authorities are just trying to get some short- term dividends, it's too dangerous, "said the second president of Armenia .In this context, he drew attention to the situation in Turkey, the actions and rhetoric of Azerbaijan Kocharian recalled that the potentials of Armenia and Turkey are not comparable, and Baku will always have behind its back the most serious support of Ankara.

Speaking about cooperation with the Eurasian Economic Union, Kocharian noted that for Armenia, the EAEU is a fairly large market, however, on the other hand, there are risks for local producers. The politician believes that in order for your goods to be competitive in this market in order to occupy their niche there, you need a sound economic policy inside the country, which he does not yet see.

Touching upon the cooperation within the CSTO framework, Kocharian stressed that the issue of security is one of the most important for Armenia today. "The CSTO is the only structure in which we significantly improve our security level, and every step connected with this structure must be carefully checked." The actions against the CSTO Secretary General Yuri Khachaturov were reckless. The criminal case caused serious concern within the CSTO and , perhaps we will lose our place in the organization because of this criminal case.I do not think that the judicial investigation has any prospects, but the organization's damage has already been done.Recover the lost can be, having reviewed those approaches, which matured have adopted the Armenian authorities on March 1, "- he said.

Touching upon the criminal case against himself on the events of March 1, Kocharyan assured that the case against him has nothing to do with the death of 10 people. "The criminal case against me is connected with the accusation (in overthrowing the constitutional system – editor's notes), In which there is no logic or legal basis." I can not now tell you in detail about the case, since this is an investigative secret.We will seek to remove the seal of secrecy so that we have the opportunity to talk about those events, but one thing I can say for sure is this criminal case is legal garbage.The people who 10 years ago provoked riots to overthrow the constitutional system, with This is the only motivation for the current leadership of the country, and the same task is before the investigative body: it's a political vendetta. "The reasons for the March tragedy must be uncovered." It is necessary to find people who shot not only civilians but also policemen after that we can talk about a full investigation, "- concluded the second president of Armenia.