Armenia sees no advantage in keeping Russian military bases

Armenia sees no advantage in continuing to host Russian military bases on its territory after Azerbaijan retook Karabakh region, the Armenian prime minister told the Wall Street Journal in an interview, Report informs referring to Reuters.

"These events have essentially brought us to a decision that we need to diversify our relationships in the security sphere, and we are trying to do that now," Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan told the WSJ.

Russia's military presence in Armenia includes garrisons in two locations and an airbase. Moscow has long seen itself as the guarantor of Armenia's security in the volatile South Caucasus, a region crisscrossed with oil and gas pipelines.