Vagharshak Hakobyan, an MP of the ruling majority “Civil Contract” Faction in the National Assembly (NA) of Armenia, on Tuesday reacted at the NA to the recent statement by President Aleksandr Lukashenko of Belarus.

"President of Belarus Aleksandr Lukashenko has made inadmissible statements that do not suit the head of state, in particular, saying 'Who needs Armenia?' and so on. I want to note that these qualifications are really reprehensible. The leader of our partner country has no right to express such thoughts towards the other partner country. And I want to recall the recent Kazakh events as to who needed Armenia. And I am sure that Mr. Lukashenko realizes the most who needed and who needs the Republic of Armenia," Hakobyan stated.

Hovik Aghazaryan, another lawmaker from the “Civil Contract” Faction also reflected on the same matter, noting. "The Lukashenkos and [editor-in-chief of RT—formerly Russia Today—television] Margarita Simonyans are doing a disservice to the Russian authorities and the Russian state through their activities.  Lukashenko should enter the [Belarusian capital] Minsk airport, which is more like a pigsty, before making such assessments."

In an interview with renowned Russian journalist Vladimir Solovyov, and speaking about the union state of Belarus and Russia and the prospects for other post-Soviet countries joining it, Belarusian President Aleksandr Lukashenko had said: "Armenia has no place to go. Do you think anyone needs them? They have already seen [that] ... [Armenian PM] Nikol Vovayevich [Pashinyan] has seen that."