YEREVAN. – Armenia will continue pursuing independent policy, acting PM Nikol Pashinyan said in response to a statement by Russian official. 

His comment came after Russian Deputy FM Grigoriy Karasin said Moscow counts on new Armenian leadership’s ability to find courage to withstand the blackmail and pressure on the part of the United States.

Pashinyan said he would definitely use a chance to try to get information from Russian partners related to the background of such a statement.

He also mentioned the statement by Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov about ruling out foreign military presents in Armenia’s biological labs. 

“The statement of the Russian Foreign Minister about some kind of an agreement has been widely discussed these days. Such an agreement was previously discussed with the Armenian authorities, but under our cabinet the matter was not on the table during the meetings with our Russian partners,” he said, adding that it is necessary to ask Lavrov what he means. 

As for the purchase of American weapons, acting PM emphasized it was U.S. national security adviser John Bolton who made such a statement, but at the moment Armenia does not see such an opportunity. 

Lavrov said Moscow and Yerevan are working on a document that should guarantee the absence of foreign military in Armenia’s biological laboratories.