Armenia has never raised the issue of withdrawing the Russian military base in the country. Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan stated this in his remarks during the MPs’ question-and-answer session with the government in the National Assembly of Armenia on Wednesday.

Pashinyan said that since 2018 he has been in contact with the Russian president and other high-ranking Russian officials, and Armenia has never raised the issue of withdrawing the Russian military base in the country; in general, no representative of Armenia has raised such an issue. Then, Pashinyan said that after returning from the recent Shanghai Cooperation Organization summit Bishkek, he saw the Russian president’s statement that, “If Armenia wants the base to be withdrawn, we will withdraw it.”

“Then during the press briefing, journalists ask, and I say that Armenia has never raised the issue of withdrawing the base, but if Russia decides to withdraw [it], Armenia will not object, because the presence of the base is not of vital importance to Armenia. If Russia wants to keep the base, we are ready to discuss [the matter]. Here is the whole story and the statements; nothing more, nothing less,” the Armenian premier added.