YEREVAN, February 11. /TASS/. Armenia is not turning its back on Russia and is not rejecting security cooperation with it, it is simply diversifying relations with partners, Armenian Prime Minster Nikol Pashinyan said.

"We have not said that we deny and reject cooperation with Russia in general and in the security sector in particular. What we have said is that we are going to diversify our relations in the security sector. What does this mean? Does this mean that we are going to break our security relationship with Russia? No, it doesn't mean that, but it means that in the field of security, we are preparing and ready, and we are discussing and working to establish relations, for example, with the European Union, which is already a reality by and large, with France, which is already a reality by and large, with the United States, which is already by and large a reality, with the Islamic Republic of Iran, which is already by and large a reality, with India, which is already by and large a reality, and with many other countries," he said in an interview with The Daily Telegraph.

At the same time, he stressed that Armenia’s relations with its new partners in the security sphere "are not naturally directed against Russia." "This is simply the consequence of the reality that the security relationships we used to have in the past do not address our security needs," he added.