Politician: Armenia must eliminate Russian presence in Armenia

Vice-chairman of Armenia’s “For the Republic” party Ruben Mehrabyan has said that the critical statements made by the Russian officials are directed against Armenia and any Armenian citizen.

“The critical statements made by the Russian officials, which may seem that they are addressed to the Armenian government, are directed against Armenia and any Armenian citizen, even those who did not vote for the Armenian Civil Contract party,” Mehrabyan told journalists, Caliber.Az reports.

“A very simple question arises. What is the Russian ambassador doing here? Why does Russia keep a ten-story embassy in a country hostile to it? The ambassador who coordinates the Russian policy with us must leave the Armenian territory. The representatives of the Russian law enforcement agencies should also be deported from Armenia as such rhetoric is unforgivable. They are not [Russian TV presenter Vladimir] Solovyov. In case of necessity, Armenia may stop broadcasting the TV channel not to hear his speech. These are officials, and this is a direct threat to Armenia, which requires practical steps in response,” he said.

While commenting on Spokesperson for the Russian Foreign Ministry Maria Zakharova’s statement that Russia expects a clear answer from Armenia regarding information about military-political agreements with the US and the EU, Mehrabyan says that Armenia is not obliged to give explanations to Russia.

“Armenia intends to establish military-political cooperation with the EU, some countries, the US, because over the past 200 years it has been dealing with an entity that Armenia considered as an insignificant one. Today, Armenia is establishing relations with those entities with which it has common interests, goals and values,” the political analyst said.

Mehrabyan noted that all this also raises questions about why Armenia is still a member of organisations created by Russia. Not to change anything is the most dangerous thing for Armenia in this situation and this means “slow or not very slow death”.

“Russia is criticizing Armenia because Armenia has adopted the policy that no longer advances Russian interests. Promoting Russian interests will mean promoting the destruction of Armenian statehood. This is a struggle, the Russians want to liquidate Armenia. To prevent this, we must eliminate the Russian presence in Armenia and neutralise the Russian threat to Armenia,” the political analyst added.