What sovereignty, when the legitimacy of the prime minister of Armenia depends on how many times a week he can have a telephone conversation with the President of Russia, when your security directly depends on Russia? The second president of Armenia, Robert Kocharyan, said this in an interview with several media outlets on Wednesday.

"The term most used by the current government of Armenia has been "sovereignty." What do we have now in terms of sovereignty? (…). Now that sovereign language has become a brush for cleaning shoes. What sovereignty?" added the second president.

When asked to what extent Russia needs a weak Armenia, he answered. "I am convinced that it’s not beneficial. (…). If you are an ally, you should not be in the role of a constant beggar, you should present value from yourself, and in that case, the bilateral relations are complete. We [Armenia] should not become a burden on the Russian budget, we have never been a burden on the Russian budget. We were the most reliable partner in this region, our interests coincided, we had the most combat-ready army.”

Robert Kocharyan stressed that Russia needs a strong Armenia. "It is possible to work with Russia in that direction, and here our interests will undoubtedly coincide," he said.