Shavarsh Kocharyan: We do not defend Russia, we are supporters of the  final clarification of the incident in Salisbury

ArmInfo. Armenia supported the  joint statement prepared by Russia on the case of poisoning in  Salisbury, to make sure that this problem will be solved within the  framework of international law. Deputy Foreign Minister of Armenia  Shavarsh Kocharyan stated this in a conversation with journalists.

At the same time, he stressed that Armenia does not defend the  position of any party. "At this stage, it is necessary to refrain  from any judgments, assessments and actions, while there is no answer  to a number of questions," the deputy minister said. In particular,  according to Kocharyan, it is necessary to find the answer to the  question, where this chemical weapon was manufactured, that is, to  clarify its origin, who carried out the crime and who ordered it. "We  hope that, as soon as possible, answers will be given to these  questions, after which it will be possible to draw conclusions and  take action," he said. For today, as the representative of the  Armenian Foreign Ministry noted, the laboratory that conducted the  research stated that it cannot reveal the origin of this substance.  With this in mind, Kocharyan believes that it is necessary to wait  for the conclusions of the specialized structures. At the same time,  Shavarsh Kocharyan does not believe that Armenia supports Russia with  his position, or that it can lead to straining relations between the  RA and the West. "We do not defend Russia, we are in favor of  finalizing the incident, Armenia is deeply interested in this," he  explained, stressing that until there is an answer to the  above-mentioned questions, RA will refrain from assessments,  statements and steps for the incident. It should be noted that  earlier press secretary of the Armenian Foreign Ministry Tigran  Balayan told ArmInfo that Armenia joined CSTO on the issue of  supporting the joint statement of Russia, China and Iran on the case  of poisoning in Salisbury.  According to him, Armenia did not  participate in the voting, however, it supported the CSTO statement  on this issue. "We are not members of the Executive Council and did  not participate in the voting, however, there was a statement of the  CSTO, to which we joined," Balayan specified.

We remind that on the eve of the meeting in the Hague, at the  initiative of Russia, a meeting of the Executive Council of the  Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) was held.  The meeting was held in closed session. The goal is to clarify the  situation with the investigation into the poisoning in Salisbury.  Russian experts put specific questions to the organization, in  particular, how the samples of the poison were taken and in what  laboratories they are studied. As the Russian Permanent  Representative to the OPCW Alexander Shulgin said at a press  conference, a draft joint statement from Russia, China and Iran was  presented at the meeting, stressing the need to solve the "Skripal  case" within the framework of international law. The CSTO allies,  close partners in the CIS, Iran, China and a number of Latin American  countries, supported the joint statement. However, the Initiative  failed to gather the necessary two-thirds majority. Shulgin said that  against are Britain and the United States, as well as the EU  countries and "some American allies in Asia". The Russian Embassy in  the Netherlands later published a list of countries that supported  the initiative, the list included Belarus, Syria, Kazakhstan,  Armenia, Azerbaijan, Iran, Venezuela, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan,  Uzbekistan, Nicaragua and Cuba.