Our government is a democratic and legitimate government. The Prime Minister of Armenia, Nikol Pashinyan, on Sunday noted this at a press conference in Los Angeles.

“And when we say, for example, that the press in the Republic of Armenia should be free, what is the first reaction of the press? ‘Well let’s break the spine of the government,’” he added. “We say the courts [in Armenia] should be independent, they say, ‘Let’s demolish the underneath of the government.’ This is a wrong perception of the situation.

“[But] let no one perceive our smiles, our respect as weakness, because thus they perceive the people as a weak subject.”