Withdrawal of Russian border guards from Zvartnots airport would be  correct, says Speaker of Armenian Parliament

ArmInfo. I did not participate in any discussions on this topic, but I believe that the withdrawal of Russian border guards from Zvartnots airport would be correct. President of the National Assembly of Armenia Alen Simonyan told reporters during a briefing on February 27, noting that this is his personal opinion.

He noted that he is confident that Armenia is capable of protecting  its borders, but is not sure that Russian border guards will do so.  "The opposite has already been confirmed several times. Not to  mention the fact that they did everything to make this border more  vulnerable," the speaker said.

In this regard, Simonyan also referred to the situation in Artsakh,  where Russian peacekeepers were deployed. <And what did they do? Did  they accompany the Armenian population to leave Artsakh? One day they  will accompany us to leave Zvartnots as well," Simonyan said.

Recently, the issue of the illegality of the presence of Russian  border guards in the territory of Armenia, including at the  "Zvartnots" international airport, began to spread with some  frequency in the Armenian part of social networks.

Initially, a large text on this topic was published on the website of  the "Union of Informed Citizens" NGO authored by Ruzanna Avagimyan,  who assures that according to paragraph 5 of the Declaration of  Independence, military units of other countries, their military bases  and structures, can only be located on the territory of the Republic  of Armenia by decision of its Supreme Council (Parliament - Ed.  note).  Then, this information, with a certain frequency, is scrolled  on different Armenian telegram channels. It is emphasized that the  Armenian parliament has never ratified the agreement on Russian  border troops on the territory of the Republic of Armenia, which  means that the activities of Russian border guards not only on the  Armenian-Iranian border and on the Armenian-Turkish border, but also   at Zvartnots airport ", is illegal, and the latter do not have the  right, instead of the border troops of the National Security Service  of Armenia, to check and issue passports of citizens crossing the  state border of the Republic of Armenia.

The basis for the current presence of Russian border guards in  Armenia is the interstate agreement on the status of Russian border  troops on the territory of the republic, concluded in Yerevan on  September 30, 1992. The border department of the FSS of the Russian  Federation in Armenia includes 4 border detachments - in Gyumri,  Armavir, Artashat and Meghri , as well as a separate checkpoint at  Yerevan Zvartnots International Airport. The maintenance of Russian  border guards in Armenia is provided approximately equally by the  governments of the two states. After the 44-day Artsakh war, a  decision was made to deploy a Russian peacekeeping contingent along  the Lachin corridor and the line of contact.  According to the  agreement, the RPC was supposed to ensure safe passage of all types  of vehicles, unhindered delivery of international humanitarian aid,  monitor the ceasefire, respond to violations of the non-use of force  obligation, counter unrest in the area of responsibility, promote a  full life in Artsakh, protect vital facilities and etc.

As a result of another Azerbaijani military aggression on September  19, 2023, more than 100 thousand Artsakh citizens were forced to flee  from Artsakh to Armenia.