YEREVAN. July 16 (Interfax) - Yerevan is not seeking conflict with Moscow and wishes to cooperate with it based on friendship and mutual respect, Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan said.
"Armenia is not seeking conflict situations with Russia. We wish to have good, natural, and friendly relations with Russia based on mutual respect," Pashinyan said at a press conference on Wednesday.
Pashinyan said he has "very respectful, candid, transparent, and honest relations with Russian President Vladimir Putin and Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin."
Speaking of the problem of unfavorable remarks about the Armenian leadership and its policy aired on Russian TV channels, Pashinyan said, "Some Russian TV channels have crossed all possible lines."
"However, I'd rather we didn't have to make this decision [closing Russian TV broadcasts in Armenia]," he said.
"We're not seeking disagreements and conflict situations with Russia. Let alone the political aspect, but I'd even feel purely human discomfort about having to make such a decision. There's the expression 'we shared the same bread together' [...] I wouldn't like [to make] this decision, but you have the impression that some forces in Russia want to force us to make this decision, and if they do, we'll have to make it," he said.