Epress.am News from Armenia
The Republic of Armenia has become a place where people from different states come, make some statement or another, in short, check off an item on their list and leave, said former Nagorno-Karabakh Foreign Affairs Minister Arman Melikyan, referring to the CSTO member country leaders’ upcoming visit and Russian President Dmitry Medvedev’s state visit, in particular.
Russia’s policy, according to Melikyan, is very dangerous: it encourages an atmosphere of corruption in Armenia, and Armenia becomes a poorly dubbed version of Russia.
“In these conditions, Armenia must be able to adopt the right policy, so that it doesn’t swallow Russia’s fruitless policy,” added the politician.
Asked whether he’s criticizing Russia’s policy, Melikyan said, “I’m not criticizing; I’m just recording the facts.”
Turning his attention to Russia’s military presence in Armenian territory and extending its contract, Melikyan said he considered the presence of Russian military bases to be positive, but at the same time, extending their contract proves that Russia plans to establish itself in the region and not leave for a long time.