On 23 December, the leader of the parliamentary opposition Bright Armenia Party Edmon Marukyan proposed to start urgent negotiations on the deployment of a new Russian military base in Syunik and to renew the treaty base with the Russian Federation. According to him, the mechanisms of military-political checks and balances, which, starting with the Bishkek Protocol of 1994, made it possible to either restrain conflicting parties from the hot phase of the war, or quickly “extinguish” the escalation of the conflict was dealt a crushing blow following the latest war in Nagorno-Karabakh. 

Marukyan said that it was clear that the Republic of Armenia is in the same security zone as the Russian Federation because of the conditions of operation of the existing military-politically agreement, particularly the agreement on collective security and 5 inter-state agreements. The faction would like to unite these inter-state agreements into one wide agreement on the in-depth military-political cooperation between the two countries. The five agreements in question are: 1) on the status of the Border Troops of the Russian Federation located on the territory of the Republic of Armenia and the conditions of their functioning (1992); 2) on friendship, cooperation and mutual assistance (1997); 3) on issues of joint planning of the use of troops (forces) in the interests of ensuring joint security (2000); 4) on the creation of the United Regional Air Defence System in the Caucasus region of collective security (2015); and 5) on the Joint Grouping of Troops (Forces) of the Armed Forces of the Republic of Armenia and the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation (2016). 

Marukyan also highlighted why another Russian military base needs to be built in Syunik. “We are talking about the close proximity of Azerbaijani forces to the city of Meghri and adjacent settlements, the border position of the administrative and economic centre of the region, the city of Kapan, the city of Goris and a number of surrounding villages (in particular, Shurnukh, Vorotan, Tekh, Khndzoresk, Nerkin Khndzoresk, David Bek), as well as the Goris-Kapan interstate highway, which connects the Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU) countries with Iran… The military base will, on the one hand, become a pillar for the effective, fast and mobile functioning of the Russian peacekeeping forces in Nagorno-Karabakh, and on the other hand, a guarantor of long-term peace and security in the region, which is part of the CSTO single security belt, and is also the border of the EAEU with the Islamic Republic of Iran, with which… a temporary agreement is in effect, leading to the formation of a free trade zone,” he added. 

To recall, it was reported that Marukyan went to Moscow a week earlier in order to discuss with the Russian authorities the provisory successor to Armenia’s Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan (Caucasus Watch reported).