No guarantees that our borders are sufficiently protected  – Robert Kocharyan  

We cannot presently give real guarantees that our state borders are sufficiently protected, second President Robert Kocharyan said today, addressing the current security-related challenges.

“The authorities’ discourse evolves around the fact that Russia has an obligation, under a bilateral treaty, to protect us as a politico-military ally. Yes, it has, but what a politico-military alliance implies is that you have an army and they have an army, and you have an agreement to create a military alliance in which you participate with your own army and Russia – with its own army,” he told political co-thinkers at a meeting in Yerevan.

As an exemplary model, the former president cited the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) in which every member state is represented with its own military personnel.

He also called for rapid efforts to rehabilitate the Armenian military after the Second Artsakh (Nagorno-Karabakh) war, warning otherwise of the dim prospect of the developing alliance.

Kocharyan noted that the 44-day war broke out months after the adoption national security concept, which contained no reference to Artsakh and which "did not subsequently undergo any changes".

“Nothing is absolutely being done today when it comes to security-related matters. Yes, we have Russia, which has commitments under a specific treaty, but if we fail – or are not otherwise able - to abide by our own commitments, it will be really questionable whether or not our security can be guaranteed,” he added.