YEREVAN. – How much the price of Russian natural gas is in Orenburg region or Krasnodar, the transaction costs and Georgia’s transit will be added. Mikayel Melkumyan, a member of the opposition Prosperous Armenia faction in the National Assembly and an economist by profession, said this at a briefing with journalists in parliament on Wednesday, referring to Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov's statement on Tuesday.

"Strategic relations should not be politicized, also in terms of the gas price; this once again proves that the political, not the economic component is huge in resolving the gas price issue,” the MP said. "If it is political, yes, there should be political talks. But I would also like to say that we are a member of a joint union—with questions arising from it, and secondly, Armenia has the peculiarity that it receives gas not only from the Russian Gazprom [company], but, also, the domestic operator in the market is still Russian; it’s like that solely at us; there is no such thing in another EEU member state.

After the revolution, we have adopted one thing that everyone must abide by the laws of Armenia, regardless of the origin of the founders, (…) our laws must be observed, and our state must protect its interests.”

According to Melkumyan, the Armenian government should create an environment for Russian investments to remain in Armenia. "The price of gas should be so that jobs will be created, in that old, affordable conditions, our products be competitive (…).

After all, Armenian-Russian relations are not conditioned by the authorities of the day (…); there are warm Armenian-Russian relations coming from centuries."