As much as Armenia needed and needs the presence of Russian border guards in Armenia, Russia needed them twice as much. Speaker of the National Assembly (NA) of Armenia, Alen Simonyan, stated this speaking with reporters in the NA Wednesday.

"Armenia is an independent state, it is necessary to get used to, take into account, and act with that thought even in the status of a small partner, realizing that your partner is sitting in front of you. Yes. A representative of a small country which has a large community in Russia, France, the US, but of an independent state is sitting [in front of you]. When there will that realization, I think our discussions will be much easier in our relations," said the Armenian parliament speaker.

According to Simonyan, it would be very desirable that the reactions that we see from those in Russia who consider it their duty to say that Armenia should not exist, or express indignation with the actions of Armenia, one day we will hear their indignation related to Azerbaijan as well.

"What Azerbaijan has done during this period in Nagorno-Karabakh, against Russian peacekeepers, killing Russian peacekeepers, was it appropriate? Why don't we hear any indignation from them [i.e. Russia] about Azerbaijan? Why doesn't anyone from Azerbaijan with an Azerbaijani surname ask questions to the representatives of the foreign ministry? And why don't journalists talk about this?" asked the Armenian NA speaker.