News - Armenia legislature head: Our political relations with Russia are bit tense

Alen Simonyan, speaker of the National Assembly (NA) of Armenia, does not see a political insinuation in the recent social media post by Arayik Harutyunyan, Chief of Staff to the Prime Minister of Armenia. To the remark that Russia is creating economic problems for Armenia at the Upper Lars checkpoint on the Georgian-Russian border, and it is already noted that this has political reasons, Simonyan said: "According to the information I have, there was a shift of the bodies performing the service at that border point. A similar situation has also been created on the Azerbaijan-Russia or the Azerbaijan-Georgia border." Simonyan urged not to rush to make assumptions. "I don't rule out. I repeat, I don't rule out that there might be something political. But I ask not to rush and not draw conclusions," he said. And to a reporter’s question as to what he means by saying that he does not rule out the political reason, Simonyan responded: "Haven't you noticed that the political relations [of Armenia and Russia] are a bit tense [now]? I think you have noticed. That's what I mean." Arayik Harutyunyan, chief of staff to the Armenian PM, had written as follows on Facebook earlier today: "Closing any Lars checkpoint will not affect us if Armenia’s business finds new markets on the holiday and non-holiday tables of our compatriots living abroad."