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In recent years, Armenia has reached the point where its relations with Russia have truly become collegial, President Vahagn Khachaturyan has said.
“Now the relations with Russia are completely different; they are truly partnership relations. The relationship between Russia and Armenia is not that of a younger brother and older brother, but simply collegial relations. This is what we have actually achieved over the past four years,” he said in an interview with the Russian RTVI.
Armenia wants its Russian partners to take into account the independent decisions of the Armenian authorities, he said.
"The Armenian government works for the well-being and prosperity of the residents of Armenia and the Republic of Armenia. Therefore, the Armenian government and authorities must independently decide with whom and how to conduct trade and maintain diplomatic relations," the President of Armenia stated.
He also commented on Russian Deputy PM Alexey Overchuk’s statement that Armenia “must make a choice between the Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU) and the EU since it is not possible to sit on two chairs at the same time.” Overchuk made the comments after the Armenian parliament passed the EU bill.
Khachaturyan said Overchuk himself must be asked what he meant by saying “sit on two chairs.”
“In any case, now no one is telling us anything, and we are not violating anything. We are working under the conditions that exist within the EAEU framework. The conditions that exist economically in the European Union, we are working with those, and so far there have been no problems. In general, what is the need to talk about this now? What is the need to put that question so sharply? Why is Overchuk presenting this issue differently to the Russian public? There are trade agreements and certain arrangements. Are they working? Yes, they are working,” he said.