Armen Grigoryan: Armenia's strong dependence on Russia is a strategic mistake

Armenia's continued dependence on Russia since 1991 has become a "strategic mistake" of the republic, Secretary of the republic's Security Council Armen Grigoryan said in an interview with Public TV. According to him, Yerevan has been dependent on Moscow for 20 years in almost all areas - in politics, economics, science and the military sphere.

However, in 2020, when "we saw that this system was not working," the Armenian authorities began to take steps to have alternatives to ensure the country's security, Grigoryan said. He also said that Russia's share in Armenia's military-technical cooperation has decreased from 96% to less than 10% in recent years, and this "was Russia's choice." According to him, Yerevan has signed arms contracts worth $250 million with Moscow since 2021, and has also developed a concept for reforming the army. However, the weapons were never delivered, which forced the country to look for new partners, the Secretary of the Security Council stressed. "One of the well-known such partners is India, France has recently become one, we have started working with various countries of the European Union and many other countries," he added.