Russia is not an enemy of Armenia and will never become one, Foreign Ministry special representative Maria Zakharova said in an interview with RIA Novosti on the sidelines of the Eastern Economic Forum on Tuesday, September 13.

“It was not Russia that recognized Azerbaijan’s rights to Nagorno-Karabakh, it was the leadership of Armenia who did this. It is up to them, the people of Armenia, to decide how to treat this,” Zakharova said.

“But there is no need to place the blame and responsibility for the decisions made in Yerevan on Russia. Russia has never been an enemy of Armenia and never will be. Never will be.”

Zakharova also added that Moscow’s harsh reaction to Yerevan’s harsh statements about Russia “is caused by a substitution of concepts.”