The leadership of Azerbaijan is interested in the victory of acting Prime Minister of Armenia Nikol Pashinyan in the upcoming snap elections. This is what deputy of the Russian State Duma, First Vice-Chairman of the Committee on CIS, Eurasian Integration and Relations with Russians Abroad Konstantin Zatulin.

According to Zatulin, this is due to the fact that it’s easy for Azerbaijan to work with Pashinyan since he’s the synonym of defeat and it’s easy to exert pressure o him.

The MP assured that Russia is refraining from interfering in Armenia’s domestic affairs. “Russia believes the Armenian people are wise and the country’s historical ally, and we don’t want to impose our view on them. I know that many Armenians in Armenia and abroad have the most radical views, according to which Nagorno-Karabakh and Armenia must protect themselves from the danger by becoming a part of the Russian Federation. There are also people who make it clear that they don’t want this. They want Armenia to be independent. Russia needs to respect the Armenia people’s opinion. To treat this seriously, there has to be consensus in Armenia. This will be rarely possible, if there is no arrangement of political forces, which is foreseen on June 20,” Zatulin said, adding that the West isn’t interested in seeing pro-Russian forces in Armenia’s parliament.

On June 20, Armenia will hold snap parliamentary elections.