Armenia has never raised issue of withdrawing Russia’s 102nd Military Base – Pashinyan

Armenia has never raised the issue of withdrawing Russia’s 102nd Military Base, stationed in Gyumri, from the country, Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan said during a question-and-answer session at the National Assembly.

“Since 2018, I have been in contact with the President of the Russian Federation and other senior officials, and I have never, not even once, raised the issue of withdrawing Russia’s 102nd Military Base from Armenia. In general, no representative of Armenia has ever raised such an issue,” Pashinyan said.

The Prime Minister recalled a statement made by Russian President Vladimir Putin in Bishkek, according to which Russia was prepared to withdraw its military base if Armenia does not see a need for its presence.

“When I returned to Yerevan from Bishkek, the next day I saw that the Russian President had stated that if Armenia wants us to withdraw the military base, we will withdraw it,” Pashinyan said.

According to him, he subsequently responded to Putin’s statement during a press briefing with journalists, reaffirming that the Armenian side had not raised the issue of withdrawing the military base.

“Armenia has never raised the issue of withdrawing the 102nd Military Base, but if the Russian Federation decides to withdraw the military base, Armenia will not object, because the presence of the military base in the Republic of Armenia is not of vital importance to the Republic of Armenia. And if the Russian Federation wants to maintain the military base, we are ready to discuss that. That is the whole story and the statement – nothing more and nothing less,” Pashinyan said.

On September 2, Russian President Vladimir Putin told journalists in Bishkek that if Armenia believed it did not need the Russian military base, Russia was prepared to withdraw it “even tomorrow”. At the same time, he said that if the Armenian side wanted to maintain a Russian military presence, Moscow was prepared to continue cooperation.

On September 3, Nikol Pashinyan responded to the statement during a press briefing with journalists, stressing that Yerevan had not raised the issue of withdrawing the 102nd Military Base.