Russia will not voluntarily leave the South Caucasus region, it is not beneficial for it, as such changes will create significant threats on its own borders, Ambassador Dzyunik Aghajanyan said in an interview with Armenian News-NEWS.am.

She added that this is why the Armenian authorities are trying to create problematic situations and point the arrows at Russia to justify their future actions. In her assessment, the PM of Armenia consistently leads the country along the path of the Western vector, in an attempt to blame certain decisions on others, including Russia and the CSTO.

"There is a view in our society that Russia and the CSTO are separate issues, but it needs to be understood that the processes are running parallel and they are dictated by the Western bloc, which is aimed at removing Russia from the region, strengthening the Turkish factor and its influence, with the help of the Turan factor. Iran is also a target of the West," Aghajanyan said.

In her view, the process of deterioration of Armenia’s relations with Russia, which began in 2018, deepened in 2021 and took on obvious anti-Russian manifestations.

"Now Russia has come to a final understanding of the existing situation. Russian border guards will be pulled out from Zvartnots [International] Airport [of Yerevan] in August. After that, forces, information about which Armenia does not want to share with Russia, may come to Armenia. This means that one can talk about anti-Russian forces. Over time, the situation is getting tense," added Aghajanyan.

Also, she expressed confidence that the deterioration of Armenia’s relations with Russia in the security sector will create problems in the economic sector as well, and this may threaten Armenia with economic collapse.

"After the war in 2020, the West pledged Armenia 2.6 billion euros, but it has not allocated [it] yet. Pledging something and making further demands is the style of the West," emphasized the Armenian diplomat.

She expressed her belief that it is beneficial for Russia to have a strong society in Armenia, while it is not beneficial for the West that Armenia has its development potential because it enables maintaining its influence on the Armenian state.