Azat Arshakyan: "It`s necessary to voice simple truth in Armenia`s  relations with Russia"

ArmInfo. "The new authorities need to voice simple truth in the relations of Armenia with Russia," MP of the National Assembly of Armenia of two convocations, former  Soviet political prisoner Azat Arshakyan told ArmInfo.

According to Arshakyan's estimates, the previous authorities of  Armenia were unable to voice this truth to Moscow, namely,  periodically to put a question whether Russia really is a strategic  ally of Armenia? The new authorities of the republic, in Arshakyan's  opinion, have all the possibilities for this, in particular, the  possibility of choice and greater freedom in actions.

According to Arshakyan, in resolving the Artsakh problem, the new  authorities should become equal partners for Moscow colleagues,  getting rid of the country's multi-year status as a satellite. "The  problem is that Moscow is guided not by the interests of Armenia as a  strategic ally, but by obligations with respect to Azerbaijan.  Bolshevist Russia, having signed the Moscow Treaty of March 16, 1921,  pledged to ensure that Artsakh belongs to Azerbaijan and still   adheres to it, without giving up this clause ", he stressed.

Meanwhile, as the former Soviet dissident is convinced, the other two  countries - the co-chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group - France and the  USA - demonstrate their adherence to international logic and  estimates of the League of Nations of December 1, 1920, according to  which Artsakh is a disputed territory and  these assessments  Azerbaijan Democratic Republic had also signed. And today it is  projected onto the approaches of Russia, France and the United States  as co-chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group towards the settlement of the  Artsakh problem. Therefore, according to Arshakyan, Armenia should  treat any proposals of the Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov with  caution. "This, of course, refers to only individual proposals of  Moscow, and not  the coordinated proposals of all three co-chair  countries," Arshakyan stressed.  To recall, at present the process of  resolving the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict is still proceeding on the  basis of the Madrid Principles put forward by the OSCE Minsk Group  Co-Chairs in 2007 and the Madrid Principles updated in 2009, among  other things, providing for the deployment of peacekeeping forces in  the conflict zone.