YEREVAN, DECEMBER 21, ARMENPRESS. The Armenian Minister of Defense Vagharshak Harutyunyan strongly dismissed opinions claiming that the deployment of Russian border guards in the border with Azerbaijan at Syunik province is harming the Armenian sovereignty.

He noted that it does the quite opposite.

 “The loss of sovereignty happens when security isn’t ensured. While the actions which strengthen security, strengthen both the state’s independence and sovereignty. Our top priority today is to ensure military security, which brings to the strengthening of our sovereignty and independence,” Harutyunyan said in an interview with Zinuzh Media.

Russian border guards are deployed in some parts of the eastern border of Armenia in the Syunik province amid ongoing delimitation and demarcation processes between Armenia and Azerbaijan following the Nagorno Karabakh war.

Editing and Translating by Stepan Kocharyan