YEREVAN. – Zhoghovurd newspaper of Armenia writes: While residents of Donetsk and Luhansk are celebrating Russia's recognition of the independence of their autonomous states, they are discussing in Armenia what Armenia's position will be on this matter.

To Zhoghovurd daily’s question as to whether Armenia will recognize the independence of the Donbas countries, Anush Beghloyan, MP of the [ruling majority] "Civil Contract" Faction of the National Assembly [(NA)], responded: "Armenia is not constrained in terms of foreign policy, and builds relations with any country within the framework of mutual interests. I have no other comment in this regard."

We asked the same question also to Hayk Mamijanyan, the secretary of the opposition "With Honor" Faction [of the NA], the deputy chair of the NA Standing Committee on Foreign Relations. "I will not respond at this time," he said.

Maria Karapetyan, a member of the National Assembly [Standing] Committee on Foreign Relations, also bypassed the question yesterday as to whether Armenia is going to recognize the independence of Donetsk and Luhansk. "I will not give a comment on that now, as I have to wait until a [respective] position is formed. I did not have the opportunity to discuss [the matter] with my other colleagues the political and geopolitical developments that took place in the evening. "

In fact, both the parliamentary opposition and pro-government MPs avoid expressing a clear position regarding the events taking place in Donetsk and Luhansk.

And while there is no response from Yerevan, the President of Artsakh [(Nagorno-Karabakh)] hurried to welcome the decision of Russian President Vladimir Putin—on behalf of the authorities and the people. Arayik Harutyunyan considered the international recognition of statehood a civilized way to prevent bloodshed, and drew [respective] parallels with Artsakh.