MOSCOW, June 2. /TASS/. It is important for Armenia to maintain allied relations with Russia amid continuing tensions in the Syunik province on the border with Azerbaijan, an expert said.

"The situation in the Syunik province is still tense. Both US Secretary of State [Marco] Rubio and Russian Defense Minister [Andrey] Belousov have recently mentioned this fact. So, in this environment, it is crucial for Armenia to maintain allied bilateral relations with Russia to ensure its security, to stay on solid footing, you could say," Tigran Meloyan, an analyst at the Center for Mediterranean Studies at the Higher School of Economics, told a roundtable meeting on Russian-Armenian relations at TASS.

According to Meloyan, Armenia realizes that it won’t be able to completely normalize its relations with Azerbaijan and Turkey overnight. "This process will require more time but the threat on Armenia’s border with Azerbaijan remains," he explained.

In recent months, Armenia and Azerbaijan have been exchanging accusations of violations of a ceasefire along their shared border. Yerevan periodically reports shelling attacks on border villages in the Syunik province from Azerbaijani positions.