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Armenian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Anna Naghdalyan has commented on Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov’s recent remarks that the two countries are working out an agreement to ban the presence of “foreign troops” in Armenia

“We are close to completing with Armenia the drafting of a document which will guarantee the absence of foreign military personnel in Armenia. It will guarantee transparency in terms of threats and risks,” Lavrov told Russian radio Komsomolskaya Pravda, commenting on the question over the three American-built laboratories in Armenia.

“It becomes clear from the context that he spoke about the biological labs. Cooperation in sanitary and epidemiological surveillance sector is a part of our bilateral agenda. Armenia upholds all its international commitments aimed at the peaceful use of scientific studies,” Naghdalyan told Panorama.am.

She stressed that those bio labs belong to Armenia and are civilian in character.

“I have to repeat myself that the talk refers to the labs that increase epidemiological surveillance and employs exclusively Armenian experts. The labs belong to Armenia and have a civilian character. There is no question of military presence there,” the spokeswoman stressed.