Interfax – Russia & CIS General Newswire
Monday 1:54 PM MSK
Pashinyan forging relations with Russia at level of ‘toasts’ – former Armenia’s ruling party
YEREVAN. Aug 20
The Republican Party, Armenia’s former ruling party, considers Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan’s foreign policy, including on Russia, to be wrong, Eduard Sharmazanov, press secretary of the Republican Party and deputy speaker of the parliament, told Interfax on Monday.
Speaking at a rally in downtown Yerevan on Friday, Pashinyan said, “Neither the West nor our partners in Russia have fully come to grips with the new situation in Armenia. And saying that Armenian-Russian relations are worsening today is just ridiculous. In the past 100 days, I have met with Russian President Vladimir Putin twice, and we have spoken on the phone three times. The relationship between the two countries is good and will get even better, step by step,”
Pashinyan also announced an Armenian-Russian humanitarian project, which he described as unique, but did not provide detail.
Commenting on the prime minister’s speech, Sharmazanov said he believes that Pashinyan is forging international relations at the level of “toasts.”
“We are not concerned about the future of Armenian-Russian relations, which was announced at the rally, we are just worried: there are reasons to be worried. The new administration is building relations with Russia at the level of toasts, but international relations are not built by making toasts, and it is said that ‘the main thing in politics is effectiveness, not talking’,” Sharmazanov said.
“Pashinyan can say all he wants, but that’s not the main thing. The main thing is the result, and the result is the tough evaluation of the Russian Foreign Ministry and Lavrov of the policies of the new Armenian administration,” he said.
The Russian minister earlier said he was concerned by the recent detentions of high-ranking officials in Armenia, saying that they contradict the statements made by the new administration of the country saying that their political predecessors will not be persecuted.
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