Armenia's ruling party calls Lavrov's statements provocation

Vigen Khachatryan, a member of the parliamentary faction of the ruling Civil Contract party, has said that Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov's statement gives rise to certain fears that Russia may put Armenia before the fact that it is leaving the region.

He made the remarks on May 19, in an interview with journalists, commenting on Lavrov's words that Armenia is being forced to oust the Russian military base from its territory, Caliber.Az reports, citing the Armenian media.

According to him, Armenia has never put forward such a demand and has not raised such a question in dialogue with Russian colleagues.

“We are supporters of cooperation,” he said, adding that such a statement can, on the one hand, be regarded as preparing the ground for Russia's withdrawal from Armenia, which is undesirable; on the other hand, as an attempt to transfer contradictions from the United States to the territory of Armenia.

"This is a provocation. They have never spoken with Armenia on this subject, it turns out they are trying to resolve their contradictions with the United States through us, right? We have no desire (to interfere with this). We have repeatedly stated that it is unacceptable to transfer these contradictions to the territory of Armenia. We do not want these contradictions between Russia and the United States to be resolved or developed at our expense, ”the deputy was indignant.