Armen Ashotyan: Bako Sahakyan must not be compared with Aliyev - head  of Azerbaijan constantly walks with security, and President of  Artsakh does not have

ArmInfo.. Today there are no economic or political bases for Armenia's withdrawal from the Eurasian Economic Union. This opinion was expressed in the interview  with journalists by the deputy chairman of the ruling Republican  Party of Armenia, head of the parliamentary commission on foreign  affairs Armen Ashotyan, referring to the statement of Edmon Marukyan,  the opposition member of the Yelq bloc on the need for Armenia to  withdraw from the EEU.

In his opinion, the EEU is a format for economic cooperation, which,  of course, has a geopolitical character. "Small countries are not  competitive in the world if they can not have free economic relations  in wider formats," Ashotyan said, adding that not only Armenia, but  even those countries that have signed the Association Agreement are  expected in the European Union, for example, Georgia, Ukraine,  Moldova.

Speaking separately about Armenian-Russian relations, and, in  particular, about the recent issue of the recent sale of weapons to  Azerbaijan by Russia, Ashotyan assured that this issue is far from  being among the foreign policy priorities of Yerevan.

Touching upon yesterday's meeting between the heads of Russia and  Azerbaijan, Vladimir Putin and Ilham Aliyev, and the  Russian-Azerbaijani relations, the deputy chairman of the RPA noted  that in the framework of the diplomatic protocol the heads of state  can meet with their colleagues, but this does not mean good relations  between the countries.

Ashotyan did not avoid also the recent elections in Artsakh, as a  result of which President Bako Sahakyan extended his powers in this  post until 2020. Ashotyan, in particular, did not agree with the  remark of journalists that the recent elections likened Artsakh to  Azerbaijan, where as a result of constitutional reforms Aliyev's  power as president was extended for a third term. In support of his  position, Ashotyan cited the argument that Bako Sahakyan, as  president, goes unguarded. "How can you compare Sahakyan with Aliyev,  have you ever seen Aliyev go without security, meanwhile Sahakyan  does it all the time," RPA deputy chairman said.