Secretary of the Security Council Mr. Armen Grigoryan's speech on “Radio Liberty”

02 / 12 / 2019

On December 1 of this year, Secretary of the Security Council Mr. Armen Grigoryan was the guest of Hrayr Tamrazyan's “Sunday Analytical” show.

Below is the excerpt of the interview

Mr. Armen Grigoryan - After the revolution, I think, there have been significant changes in Armenian-Russian relations, and significant changes in a positive direction, and this change, I am sure, is also about these perceptions. And when we raise these questions and discuss them with our partners, I am sure, that this will be reflected in their behavior in the future as well.

And also the dynamics of the Armenian-Russian relations, which exists we can say last for a year, even in the last few months of this year. Are you aware that my colleague, secretary of the Russian Security Council, arrived in Armenia in August, then a colleague of the Speaker of the National Assembly also arrived in Armenia, it was followed by a visit by the Russian Defense Minister, then the visit of the Minister of Foreign Affairs. And I think there was a lot of positive dynamics in the Armenian-Russian relations, we fixed that we were able to move forward and have significant successes, and these visits also fixed those successes.

And I think that such relationships will also allow us to discuss these issues in a more open, unbending atmosphere and find a solution to this situation, because I am convinced that definitely, since Russia is present in Syria, any additional position of the "Islamic State" is a challenge to Russia's security, and this is a united challenge, and in this united challenge our interests coincide․ And I am convinced that as we have acted and discussed joint actions in Syria, you know that we have humanitarian aid in Syria, and that it will also have its reflection in other areas of our relations.

Commonly last year's reforms in Armenia at the beginning of the year have had a huge impact, and Armenia's assessments by various international organizations have made great progress. By the end of the year, we seem to have made great strides, and it is interesting to see, from Gallup International's research, which is the public perception, the perception of individuals in terms of security, we are among the top 10 countries where citizens' perceptions of security are at a very high level, that is, citizens feel safe in Armenia. It is a very high figure in Armenia, and we are in the top ten. This is the second time we've been in the top ten, the first being Freedom House's index of freedom on the Internet, where we are in the top ten. And in this respect, it shows that the ongoing reforms, democratization, economic development in Armenia further increase the security of the country, and not only the security, but also the country's image․There is a lot of talk about the country's image, but only the EAEU meeting in Yerevan on October 1, which was also attended by Iran and Singapore, also speaks to Armenia's high reputation.

I can say very clearly that, for example, the military budget for 2017 was 202 billion AMD, the military budget for 2020 will be 303-304 billion AMD, that is, we have a 50% increase over 2017. And in this regard, there are ongoing reforms in Armenia in the area of security, which also increases the efficiency of our resources.

You can watch the full video here