July 10, 2006 - 15:21 AMT
Russia's Any Measure against Georgia Deals Blow to Armenia's Interests
Any measure undertaken by Russia against Georgia deals an unintentional blow to Armenia's interests, Vice-speaker of the Armenian National Assembly Vahan Hovhannisian told reporters today when commenting on the closing of the Russian-Georgian border by the Russian authorities. In his opinion, this is conditioned by the Russian-Georgian relations, which "now tense, now improve".

"Recently these relations tend to aggravate. However our Russian counterparts should understand that any step against Georgia damages Armenia's interests. Thus they should be more supple and cautious," Hovhannisian underscored.
To remind, on June 8 night the Russian border guards closed the Kazbegi-Verkhni Lars checkpoint over the start of construction works at the border. This caused problems for traffic and a great number of vehicles including those heading for Armenia stuck at the Russian-Georgian border.