Moscow hopes that the new Armenian leadership will find courage to resists US blackmail and will make decisions independently, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Grigory Karasin said in an interview with Sputnik, UrduPoint reported.
In late October, US National Security Adviser John Bolton held a visit to the Armenian capital of Yerevan. In his address to journalists, Bolton said, commenting on the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, that Washington would continue supporting a peaceful resolution to the conflict, stressing that Armenia should not be dependent on "one major power", given that US equipment was "better that the Russian anyway."
"Against the backdrop of radical changes in the country, which happened this year, Washington's meddling into its internal and external political affairs becomes more and more unceremonious .
.. We hope that the current Armenian leadership ... will find courage to resist unconcealed external blackmail and pressure, and will defend its sovereign right to make decisions independently, in line with national interests," Karasin said.
He slammed Bolton for qualifying Armenian experience as "historical cliches" and calling on Yerevanto immediately join Iran sanctions and start buying US weapons.
"If this is the public side of the US-Armenian relations, then one can only imagine the arm-twisting that happens behind the scenes," Karasin said.
