In an interview with Armenia's Public Television on February 10, Sargis Khandanyan, the recently elected head of the National Assembly's Foreign Affairs Committee, dismissed the opposition's claims that the government has caused a crisis in relations with Russia.

The opposition claims that the sole guarantee for Nagorno-Karabakh's security is provided by Russian peacekeepers, while the ruling Civil Contract party has strained ties with Russia.

"I disagree with this viewpoint because we value the protection that Russian forces provide in Nagorno-Karabakh. But its presence has led to several problems. I am referring to the Parukh [Farrukh in Azerbaijani] incident, the ongoing blockade of the Lachin corridor, which is also under the control of the Russian peacekeeping force but has been blocked by Azerbaijan for more than two months," Khandanyan said.

He said Armenia expects more efforts from Russia to unblock the corridor, while relations with Russia are not limited to peacekeepers or cooperation within the CSTO. "These relations are allied and multilateral," he added.

"There is effective cooperation in many other areas. But we are waiting for our allies in the CSTO and also Russia, with which we had signed an allied treaty back in 1997, to provide answers to a string of questions. We expect our allies to fulfill their obligations stemming from these treaties," the head of the National Assembly's Foreign Affairs Committee stated.

He expressed bewilderment over Russia's dissatisfaction with Armenia's invitation to the EU monitoring mission.

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