Yerevan hopes that the Belarusian side will continue to refrain from giving assessments on Armenia. Secretary of the Security Council of Armenia, Armen Grigoryan, stated this at a press briefing Thursday—and with respect to Belarusian President Aleksandr Lukashenko's controversial statement about Armenia.

Grigoryan noted that the Armenian side responded to this statement through all possible diplomatic means, including the calling of the Belarusian ambassador to the Armenian foreign ministry.

"The response was complete. And I hope that the Belarusian side will no longer make assessments on Armenia because such assessments are not in the interests of the relations between Armenia and Belarus, especially of the close relations between the two peoples. We [i.e., Armenia] are responding diplomatically, and we hope that the situation will not be repeated. If the incident is repeated, we will think about how to react. All the steps have been taken," said the chief of the Security Council of Armenia.

But the question as to why Armenia does not respond to Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev's demarches caused bewilderment to Armen Grigoryan.

"When giving such a question, there is a need to differentiate between the relations [of Armenia] with Belarus and with Azerbaijan—if there are any at all. Who upsets you the most? A close person? Or the person you have bad relations with?" the secretary of the Security Council of Armenia asked rhetorically.

To note, speaking about the chances of Armenia becoming a part of the "Union Country" comprising Russia and Belarus, Belarusian President Lukashenko had stated: "Armenia has no place to escape. What? Do you think anyone needs them? [Armenian PM] Nikol Vovayevich [Pashinyan] knows about it well."