Armenian-Russian relations are now becoming the object of wider  confrontation - Russian ambassador 

ArmInfo. Armenian-Russian relations are now becoming the object of wider confrontation - and 

this is not hidden by the United States, Russian Ambassador to Armenia Sergey Kopyrkin said. 

In an interview with 24News, when asked to comment on the statement 

of Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov that the Armenian 

leadership, "under far-fetched pretexts, distorting the history of 

the last three years, is deliberately leading to the collapse of 

relations with the Russian Federation," Kopyrkin stated that he is 

the head of the Russian foreign policy departments, and knows what he 

is saying.

"Therefore, here I would not give any additional comments to the 

minister's words. I think that these words, as I assess them, are 

truly a reflection of very deep concern about what is happening now 

in our relations and concern for their fate. Because "We understand, 

unfortunately, that our relations are now becoming the object of 

wider confrontation. In general, this is not being hidden by the same 

United States," Kopyrkin said.

According to the Russian ambassador, he has repeatedly mentioned 

statements by US officials; in public statements they openly say that 

the United States views relations with Armenia precisely in the 

context of the confrontation with Russia and Iran.

"This is very bad, this is very dangerous. This is indeed something 

that can cause real damage to our relations if there is not 

sufficient political will on the Armenian side to defend that array 

of our relations, which is very important for our peoples and for the 

Republic of Armenia, and for ordinary people, Armenian families," 

Kopyrkin added.

At the same time, he pointed out the importance of not losing under 

external pressure what unites Armenia and Russia, which is of vital 

importance not only economically, but also socially, culturally, 

psychologically, and, of course, in the sense security, maintaining 

stability, prospects for the peaceful development of the region. 

"Under the pressure of those interests that really have nothing to do 

with the interests of the peoples of the region, the people who live 

here and the interests of Russians, including Armenian Russians, but 

also fundamentally contradict this," he said. 

When asked to clarify whether there are concerns in Moscow due to the 

fact that "Armenia's foreign policy could turn the country into a 

testing ground for the struggle between Russia and the West," 

Kopyrkin admitted that objectively the situation in this regard is 

very alarming.

"Even the questions that you ask indicate that there really is 

something here that we need to be very seriously concerned about and 

think very seriously about. By the way, these signals, these 

proposals invariably come from the Russian side that we must 

trustfully, sincerely conduct this dialogue. And conduct this 

dialogue not on a public plane, but precisely in such a way as to 

resolve those issues, discuss those moments that cause mutual 

misunderstanding so that our relations really remain the way they 

should be, since these relations come from truly deep interests of 

our countries and our peoples," the Russian diplomat said. 

Kopyrkin also thanked the Armenian people for the sincere sympathy 

shown after the terrorist attack at the Crocus City Hall concert hall 

in the Moscow region.

"Here I can really say that this sincere sympathy, the warmth that we 

felt, after all, tells us that, despite everything, after all, the 

Armenian people, the Russian people, the Russian people, they are 

really close, they have a lot in common, and even some events that 

are happening in the political arena in the world, all the problems, 

challenges that we face, it still doesn't kill this feeling," the 

Russian Ambassador noted, adding that this suggests that everything 

that unites both peoples is very deep.

The diplomat also noted that the President of the Republic of Armenia 

came to the embassy to personally sign, in addition to telegrams of 

condolences, which he, like the Prime Minister and the Minister of 

Foreign Affairs, sent. "This is important. This is such a good, in my 

opinion, both human and political gesture," the ambassador concluded.