YEREVAN, March 10. /ARKA/ . The political crisis in Armenia is an internal matter of that country and Russia is interested that the situation there normalizes as soon as possible, Deputy Foreign Minister of the Russian Federation Andrei Rudenko told TASS today.
“We regard the situation in Armenia as an internal matter of that country. We do not interfere in these processes that are taking place there, and we do not take sides,” he said. “We want the situation to normalize as faster as possible, since it will be to the benefit of everyone.”
Russia hopes that the situation in Nagorno-Karabakh will not escalate, Rudenko told reporters.
The political crisis in Armenia began after the end of hostilities in Nagorno-Karabakh and entered a phase of aggravation on February 25, when Chief of the General Staff Onik Gasparyan and about 40 senior army officers demanded in a statement that Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan and his government resign.
The prime minister described the statement as an attempt of a military coup and twice petitioned President Armen Sarkissian to dismiss Onik Gasparyan.
The President refused to sign the draft decree on Gasparyan’s dismissal within the timeframe provided by the law, however, he did not dispute Pashinyan’s petition to dismiss Gasparyan at the constitutional court either.
Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan said in a Facebook post today that his decision to dismiss the chief of staff of the armed forces Onik Gasparyan has come into force. He also petitioned President Sarkissian to appoint Artak Davtyan as Chief of Staff. -00-