ArmInfo. Associations with Russia in Syria are a threat to the security of Armenia and  contradict the national interests of the republic. This is stated in the statement of the "Sasna Tsrer" party in connection with the sending of the Armenian mission to Syria.

The party recalls that the Armenian authorities had previously warned  about these threats when the decision to send a mission was only  announced.

"The Armenian authorities continue the policy of their predecessors,  putting Armenia in colonial dependence on Russia. If the new  authorities continue this policy, then Armenia will lose its  sovereignty in the international arena," the statement reads. On  February 8, a group of Armenian specialists in humanitarian demining,  medical personnel and ensuring the safety of the specialists  themselves, in a total of 83 people, arrived in the city of Aleppo of  the Syrian Arab Republic to provide humanitarian specialized  assistance to the Syrian people.

According to the press service of the Ministry of Defense of Armenia,  the Armenian specialists will carry out humanitarian activities  related to humanitarian demining, mine awareness of the population,  the provision of medical assistance in Aleppo, exclusively outside  the zone of combat operations.

Armenian Deputy Minister of Defense Gabriel Balayan assured in an  interview Radio Liberty, that the initiative to send the Armenian  mission to Syria belongs exclusively to Yerevan. According to him,  Russia has provided only logical assistance in this matter.  Meanwhile, earlier, RA Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan stated that  Armenia and Russia are carrying out an important joint humanitarian  mission, after which a decision was announced to send a mission to  Syria.

In response to the remark that, in the opinion of many experts,  sending a mission to Syria will have a negative impact on Armenia's  relations with the West and some Arab countries, the Deputy Minister  stressed: "In making the decision, all the pros and cons were taken  into account." Meanwhile, Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu at a meeting  with his Armenian counterpart Davit Tonoyan in Moscow thanked the  latter for the humanitarian assistance to Syria, stressing that it  was Armenia that was the first to respond to the call to support  peaceful citizens of the Arab Republic.