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."
