Armenia`s transition under U.S., NATO umbrella to make it impossible to maintain common defense space with Russia within CSTO - Mikhail Galuzin
ArmInfo. The transition of Armenia under the "umbrella" of the United States and NATO will make
it impossible to maintain a single defense space with the Russian
Federation and within the CSTO. This was stated by Deputy Foreign
Minister of the Russian Federation Mikhail Galuzin.
The diplomat noted that Russia does not have the "habit" of
interfering in the internal affairs of other states, since it knows
from its own experience how detrimentally this can affect the
development of the country.
At the same time, he emphasized that Moscow sincerely values ties
with Armenia and tries to build them in a mutually respectful and
mutually beneficial manner.
"The West, on the contrary, views the republic utilitarianly, as one
of the instruments of a hybrid war against Russia and other countries
of the South Caucasus. The goal is clear - to use the Armenian
"bridgehead" to form another source of tension in the region,"
Galuzin believes.
He is convinced that Western capitals are ready to calmly "bet on the
stake" on the socio-economic situation of the republic and its
security.
"Representatives of the United States, the European Union and NATO
are calling on Yerevan to sever all ties with Moscow and are seeking
to withdraw from our common integration associations. We see that
Armenia is actively being lured by the European perspective. It is
easy to guess that the country will be persuaded to abandon the
mechanisms that provide its economy with record growth over the past
years. The severance of economic ties with Russia will mean the loss
of the main market for Armenian business," he noted.
"Further erosion of Armenia's sovereignty in the security sphere and
the transition to Western patterns under the "paper umbrella" of the
United States and NATO will simply make it impossible to maintain a
single defense space with Russia and within the CSTO," he told
Komsomolskaya Pravda.
As the Deputy Head of the Russian Foreign Ministry noted, under the
influence of Western narratives there was a sharp narrowing of
bilateral political contacts.
Unfounded criticism of Russia, the CSTO, and the existing security
system is increasingly heard from Yerevan. This is, to say the least,
unconstructive and short-sighted," Galuzin believes.
In his opinion, Yerevan's full participation in the work of the CSTO
meets the aspirations of the Armenian people and serves the cause of
maintaining peace and stability in the South Caucasus.
"No matter what the Westerners promise, who pushed the Armenian
authorities to "freeze" participation in the Organization, there are
no effective alternatives to the CSTO as a mechanism for ensuring the
security of Armenia today," the Russian diplomat is confident.
"The work to build the potential of the CSTO is moving
systematically, leaving Yerevan behind," said the Russian deputy
minister.
"New algorithms for crisis response are being developed, the
capabilities of the Organization's Collective Forces are being
strengthened, taking into account Russian combat experience, and
serious program documents are being adopted to ensure the border
security of our allies in Central Asia," Galuzin said.
As the Russian diplomat noted, Moscow has repeatedly and at various
levels clearly communicated its readiness to discuss issues that
concern Yerevan.
"They emphasized that Moscow was and remains committed to the entire
range of agreements both at the bilateral level and within the
framework of general integration structures, and did not abandon its
obligations to its allies. At the same time, we never received a
reaction to our various initiatives," said the Russian Deputy
Minister.
According to him, Moscow expects that "the Armenian leadership will
have enough political wisdom to understand the illusory nature of the
West's promises and the critical importance of relations with Russia
from the point of view of the sovereignty, security and economic
development of the republic."