Armenia has never had such high subjectivity as now. This was stated by Armen Khachatryan, an MP from the ruling majority Civil Contract Faction and Deputy Chair of the Standing Committee on Defense and Security of the National Assembly (NA) of Armenia, speaking with reporters in the NA Wednesday.
"Both the West and the US take Armenia into account, and many other strategic issues are discussed. In those times, yes, many issues, as to where Armenia should go, etc. were being decided in the country of [Russian MFA spox] Mari Zakharova.
Regarding security, I must say that Armenia is making its security system multi-layered and will do everything so that it meets today's requirements. It doesn't matter who likes it or who doesn't like it now; we'll go our own way.
Unfortunately, we have seen the security system that we had, there were only conditions written on paper that were not implemented. As a result of its not being enacted, today Azerbaijan has occupied 150 square kilometers of [Armenia’s] territory, etc. We no longer have the right to unreasonably trust or believe and have taken practical steps in all directions," said Khachatryan.
Regarding the question of whether the Russian border guards in Armenia have a major role in the country's security, Khachatryan stated: "Yes, they have, but we must say the following: the [Russian] military base [in Armenia’s Gyumri city] exists, in any case, the drawing of Armenia's new security system will make it clear how our future will be. I must say that this military base did not help at all when they [i.e. the Azerbaijanis] occupied the sovereign territories of Armenia. At the moment, they [i.e. the Russian border guards] are physically standing at the border [of Armenia], but they did not play any positive role when there were concrete [Azerbaijani] threats to Armenia and still are today."
And addressing the reporters, the Armenian ruling force MP said: "I am a politician, and I don't have to say why we don't remove, or when we will remove the [aforesaid Russian] military base [in Armenia]; we will remove [it] when needed, we will remove [it] at a time when needed."
