Russia realizes 'impossibility of vassal relationship' with Armenia, say parliament members

Members of the Armenian National Assembly's Standing Committee on Foreign Relations on Wednesday summed up their recent visit to Moscow, saying that the meetings with Russian colleagues offered them good chances to voice concern over the weapons trading with Azerbaijan.

According to Arman Babajanyan of the opposition Bright Armenia faction, the Belarusian-Azerbaijani arms supply deal was also on the delegation's agenda.

''They were trying to voice the kind of 'protocol' evaluations known to us, but we counter-reacted to them with different wordings – which actually came as something new to them,'' he said.

A member of the ruling parliamentary bloc My Step, Anush Begloian, added they also used the chance to share Armenia's negative attitude to the attempts to politicize the Black Sea Economic Cooperation (BSEC).

As for the speculations over anti-Russian sentiments in Armenia, Babajanyan said they eventually "gave the Russian colleagues a clear message" that there will be no changes on the country's foreign policy agenda.

Expressing his political team's support to maintaining – as well as deepening and developing – the Russian Armenian relations, the opposition MP ruled out any sacrifices at the expense of the country's sovereignty or relations with other partners. ''The political majority in Armenia managed to convey to the Russian colleagues the message that we aren't planning any foreign policy changes. At the same time, they understand that the onetime vassal relationship cannot possibly continue, as we are marking the start of dignified partnership relations also in this particular format,'' he added.