Relations with Russia need formulas for much deeper integration, Armenian ex-president Robert Kocharyan told the Armenian TV channel.

"With regard to relations with Russia. Today we must be aware of the following: the army suffered enormous losses in terms of armored vehicles. I don’t want to talk about percentages, lately, people have voiced it, I don’t want to talk about it so as not to scare people," he said.

"Today we do not even have an army to guard the border in Syunik. The villagers are a militia, some men are gathering, guarding the border. Where is our government?" Kocharyan wonders.

"Now, in order to bring this all back to normal and restore the combat effectiveness of the army, I do not see any other country with whom we can do this. This is Russia. This means that we need to find formulas for much deeper integration."

And especially considering the Turkey factor. How many times over the past two years have I said: Turkey is a serious factor in this region. Turkey intends to weaken Armenia as much as possible. And it will never give up such intentions. I don’t want to go into details," he added.

"Our security issues, as well as taking into account our economic development, that our market is small, that the Russian market is large and voluminous, we need to integrate much more with Russia. Especially in matters of security and increasing defensive capabilities, formulas for deeper integration must be sought. This is a matter of talks. And there must be a government that has an absolute trust to properly build relations with Russia. This is another of those circumstances that presuppose a very quick change of power so that we can start this process. We are not protected today, and yes, there is a danger of getting a second blow."

According to him, this will not work with the current authorities.