Since 2021, we have tried to buy weapons from Russia, signed contracts, and developed a concept for comprehensive reforms of the army, Armen Grigoryan, Secretary of the Security Council of the Republic of Armenia, announced on the air of the Public Television Company.
“We were supposed to carry out joint reforms, but there were attacks on Armenia, and the Russian Federation did not supply not only the weapons we needed but also the ones we bought. We started looking for new partners: India, France, EU countries,” said Grigoryan.
According to him, in 2020, 96 percent of all Armenia’s military-technical cooperation was with Russia.
From January 2021 until now, we have signed military-technical cooperation agreements worth several billion dollars with various countries. At the moment, the volume of RF in those contracts has decreased from 96 percent to less than 10 percent. I can say that this was Russia’s choice,” said the Secretary of the Security Council.
Grigoryan noted that they are also trying to work towards the diversification of the economy.
“In 2023, during the first nine months, the leading investor in RA is the Emirates, about 250 million dollars; the second is Luxembourg; the third is new Russia, less than 50 million dollars. In other words, these processes that are taking place are Russia’s choice; Russia decided not to invest in Armenia,” he said.
Grigoryan added that there is another option: Armenia has “opened up to the world,” has created great opportunities, and has ensured a competitive field.
“At the same time, we have a large volume of exports to Russia, now we are searching for new markets,” said the Secretary of the Security Council.
