US Senate Speaker Nancy Pelosi and congressman Frank Pallone has spoken about providing military support to Armenia.

The democracy of Armenia is something that is accepted in the democratic world and they attach great importance to the democracy of Armenia, Pelosi noted.

" If I may just add to my colleague’s response, Armenia – the democracy in Armenia is a joy to the world.  The Velvet Revolution was cheered globally.  And that is something that was reinforced in the recent election, which was free and fair and recognized as such.  So again, you're a good example to the transition to democracy.  And we support that.  

As Mr. Pallone said, your interrelations with other entities is up to Armenia to decide.  But from our standpoint – not ‘but’ — and from our standpoint, this – territorial, security and sovereignty of Armenia, the democracy of Armenia is of value to us in America.  And in our relationships with other countries, in the mix here, we should be using our influence, our leverage, showing that Armenian democracy and sovereignty is a priority.  Speaking from our side — not telling Armenia what they should be doing.  It is interesting that they were disappointed that they got fact-finders and not protection from that relationship.  We'll see what happens, see what happens next.

If I may just say, Congresswoman Speier mentioned the resolution of condemnation of Azeri invasion of Armenia.  That is – will be taken up soon in the Congress.  I want to also add that she is leader on that with the Chairman of the Intelligence Committee, Adam Schiff, who co-chaired – who co-sponsored that resolution.  But he was the lead sponsor on the Armenian Genocide resolution.  We all take great pride in the number of Armenian Americans in our district.  He claims the most, he had the resolution, I wanted to pay tribute to him," she said.

Frank Pallone, the US congressman, answered the above questions and said that they understand that Armenia is part of that security organization with Russia.

"We – I'll speak for myself and say – I don’t want to speak for others – I say that we understand that Armenia is part of this security arrangement with Russia.  Now, we're not suggesting anything about that.  What we are saying is that the United States is very concerned about Armenia’s security, we want to do whatever we can to be more supportive of Armenia’s security and that we're going to work to see what can be done by the United States to be – to help with Armenia’s security, without reference to Russia or the Russian arrangement," he added.

When asked if the US is ready to provide military support to Armenia, Pelosi said that the importance of their visit lies in the fact that they will listen and understand what they can do, what is expected of them.

She noted that they talked about economic and security issues during their meeting today as well as the issue of Armenia joining the millennium challenges programs.

"Well first, may I say that part of our – the value of our visit and the value of our discussions is to hear what, from your perspective, from Armenia’s perspective, how we can be helpful.  And that has been a big part of our discussions thus far.

One particular thing that we predict, more related to the economy than to security — except that they're all related — is that the Speaker asked us to support Armenia's steps that it is taking to be part of the Millennium Challenge.  And that was a very big initiative for economic growth and fairness.  So we did commit that we would work to help with that.

On the defense side, we are listening to – rather than coming here and saying this is what we're prepared to do, we’re listening to what the needs are.  Congresswoman Eshoo, did you want to do this first?" she wonders.