Monday, September 2 2019 13:56

ArmInfo. Relations between Armenia and Russia should be continuously developed and improved. This was stated by the Prime Minister of Armenia Nikol Pashinyan in  an interview with the French edition of Nouvelle d'Armenie.

Answering a question about relations with Russia after the "velvet"  revolution and whether Russia's doubts in bilateral relations were  able to be dispelled, Nikol Pashinyan noted that such a wording gives  reason to believe that Moscow's possible doubts are legitimate, but  Yerevan is not. "The very wording of the question gives reason to  believe that Russia has a legitimate right to doubt Armenia, and we  do not. Russia always had the right to doubt, and we were always in  the role of a suspect. And why does nobody think that there can be  mutual doubts in the Armenia-Russia relations? For example, when  Russia sells arms to Azerbaijan, is this a matter of doubt or not? I  want to say that we must get rid of our centuries-old complexes. We  are sovereign partners, and if they have a right to doubt in us, we  also have the right to doubt them, "the head of the Armenian  government said.

When asked whether it is possible to be both a strategic ally of  Russia and support Western values, democracy, freedom of the press,  and why Armenia attaches such great importance to relations with  Russia, Pashinyan noted that Armenia has always considered Russia as  a force that has invested European values in the region, finding this  very important. "Today's Russia is Peter the Great's Russia, a  carrier of his values, is it or is it not? If yes, then there is no  contradiction between Russia and Western values. The fact is that in  Europe there is no common understanding of things. Poland has its own  approach to European values, France has its own, Great Britain votes  for Brexit. For me, European values are our values, as for France,  for the UK, for Russia, because we created them together. So, our  goal is not to realize European values in Armenia , but exercise the  values that we have produced and mixed in one common European pot,  creating something integral. These are our values, and our revolution  is the best example of this. How is it possible that we have carried  out the most popular revolution in Europe?  Because democracy is the  genetic value of Armenians>, - said Pashinyan.

Speaking about pressure on Armenia due to US sanctions on Iran, the  Prime Minister stated that Armenia and the United States managed to  achieve a very important victory in this matter. "It seems that our  American partners took this issue well. They began to understand that  Iran has one meaning for Washington, and another for Armenia>,"  Pashinyan said, stressing that at the moment Armenia is not subjected  to any pressure from the United States. "Armenia, being part of the  international community, is a neighbor of Iran. And I am glad to see  that our American partners seem to have perceived the depth of the  context in which Armenia is located, "he concluded.