Zatulin: Armenia Will Suffer if Russia's Opinion Is Ignored

Moscow / 02.08.18 / Turan: Armenia's "great friend", First Deputy Chairman of the RF State Duma Committee for CIS Affairs Konstantin Zatulin believes that if Armenia does not choose the interests of Russia, it can lead Armenia to internal and external problems. He expressed this opinion on the air of the Radio Ekho Moskvy.

"Armenia will have to think about what choice Prime Minister N. Pashinyan will make, since if this choice is not in favor of meeting some of Russia's concerns, then Russia's criticism of the Prime Minister's actions can lead to a variety of outcomes, both external and internal political," he said.

Zatulin also added that Armenia cannot fail to take into account that today its security is guaranteed in many respects by membership in the CSTO, the presence of the Russian military base and the supply of arms from Russia.

"In this case, in relations with Russia, this is fraught with a loss of confidence at a high level, because words are words, and actions are actions. This arrest of the CSTO Secretary General (Y. Khachaturov) cannot but damage the image of the organization itself," Zatulin noted.

Earlier, Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov criticized the actions of Yerevan, in particular, the arrest of former President Robert Kocharian and the bringing to trial of CSTO Secretary General Yury Khachaturov. S. Lavrov said the persecution of their predecessors by the new political leaders of Armenia cannot but disturb Moscow. -02D-