News - Armenia parliament speaker on his anti-Russian statements: What I said was correct, I am ready to repeat it again

Armenia has responded to the Russian Federation Council letter, which reflected on the anti-Russian statements by National Assembly (NA) speaker Alen Simonyan. Simonyan himself told this to reporters at the NA Monday. "The letter was sent to Sargis Khandanyan [i.e. Chair of the NA Standing Committee on Foreign Relations]. And Sargis Khandanyan replied to that letter a long time ago—after a day or two. It's just that at that moment it was convenient for Mrs. [Maria] Zakharova [i.e. the spokesperson of the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs] to react like that and not to react to the other part. It's clear, isn't it, that a staged question-and-answer session is taking place," said Simonyan. Simonyan added that he knows what the Russian side responded, but did not elaborate. "I know, but I won't tell. It does not concern me. I am the owner of my statements. What I said, I said correctly, I said appropriately, I did not say anything new. I am ready to repeat the same things today and always," said the Armenian NA speaker. And to the question as to on whose behalf he made these anti-Russian statements, Simonyan answered: "What does 'on whose behalf’ mean? I am one of the people elected with the most direct mandate [in Armenia]. I made the statement on behalf of whom I participated. If the authorities in some countries do not represent the people, it is their problem, such are their ideas. In Armenia, the authorities, also the opposition, represent the people." Earlier we reported that the chairperson of the Federation Council of Russia, Valentina Matviyenko, had instructed the Russian senators to prepare and send an inquiry to the Armenian parliament "in connection with the anti-Russian statements" of its speaker, Alen Simonyan, At the Spain Conference of Speakers of the European Union Parliaments, Simonyan had stated, in particular, that considering that "the core of the conference is Russia's invasion of Ukraine and the conflict in the Middle East," he wants to confirm that Armenia "resolutely supports the territorial integrity Ukraine, as well as Moldova, Georgia, Cyprus, and all other countries." "I want to ask my colleague, the president of the Armenian parliament, on whose behalf did he make such statements? Certainly not on behalf of the Armenian people, with whom Russia has centuries-old friendship. We cannot ignore such anti-Russian speeches. I would send a written inquiry to the Armenian parliament to ask on whose behalf he spoke and whether the Armenian parliament agrees with the assessments made during that meeting," had said the chairperson of the Russian Federation Council.