Russian MP: Kocharyan's victory would create "additional turbulence"

PanARMENIAN.Net - The victory of the acting Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan's party in the snap parliamentary elections will entail minimal changes in relations between Yerevan and Moscow, said Leonid Kalashnikov, Chairman of the State Duma Committee on CIS Affairs, Eurasian Integration and Relations with Compatriots.

In a conversation with Interfax, Kalashnikov also said Russia would recognize the results of elections in the country.

Pashinyan’s Civil Contract party won 53.92% of the vote, while Hayastan (Armenia) bloc headed by second President Robert Kocharyan secured 21.4% of the ballots. "I Have Honor" bloc too will get seats in the parliament.

"The victory of Pashinyan's party in the parliamentary elections will have the slightest effect on our relations with Armenia, because these relations have already been tried and tested in the trilateral agreement on the settlement in Nagorno-Karabakh," Kalashnikov said on Monday, June 21.

According to him, "no changes will happen in relations between the Russian Federation and Armenia, including in the military-technical cooperation". Kalashnikov believes that "if Kocharian's bloc won majority in parliament, it would have created additional turbulence, despite the fact that he is our old new partner."

"Everyone understood this, so I think that Moscow will most likely recognize these elections," said the head of the committee.

At the same time, "following the results of the past elections, the division of society within Armenia, which has been there for a long time, will continue to be consolidated," Kalashnikov added.