ArmInfo.U-turns in foreign policy can often be very dangerous, Armenia's Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan stated in an interview t Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan stated in an interview to the German ARD TV channel., answering the question that when he was in opposition, he spoke out against Armenia's membership in the Russian-led Eurasian Union.
<Yes, I voted against Armenia's accession to the Eurasian Economic Union, but first there was an episode in my parliamentary activity when I also voted against the process of Armenia's withdrawal from the Eurasian Economic Union. And assuming the post of Prime Minister, I decided with our people that there will be no geopolitical upheavals after the revolution. In fact, it was a collective decision. Let me state that U-turns in foreign policy can often be very dangerous. And yes, today we are a member of the Eurasian Economic Union; last year Armenia was the presiding nation, and I personally chaired the Eurasian Economic Union, the presidency of the Eurasian Economic Union was quite effective, because we signed a number of new agreements. But we are cooperating with the European Union as well, since our democratic agenda has not changed at all'', Pashinyan noted.
Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan noted Armenia is actually getting the assistance expected from Russia; ''we do not have any reservations as to Russia's compliance with its security-related commitments to Armenia. But on the other hand, we understand that Russia is first of all an OSCE Minsk Group co-chairing nation, and therefore is supposed to maintain a neutral position on the Nagorno-Karabakh issue. Russia has good relations with Azerbaijan. Of course, this is not a simple situation, but we are satisfied with the quality of Russia's fulfillment of its obligations to Armenia'', he said. Pashinyan also stated that the deployment of Russian peacekeepers is acceptable for the Armenian side. The issue here is not so much political, but practical, because we should bear in mind that Russia is closer to and present in our region. I mean that peacekeeping implies operative response.
Russia is present in the region, Russia knows the region, I can even talk about language-related communication bottlenecks assuming that with peacekeepers coming from other countries there would be communication-related problems, problems arising from the nuances of knowing the region and mentality. We do believe that Russian peacekeepers will be the most effective in this regard.
As for the possibility of deployment of Turkish peacekeepers, Nikol Pashinyan recalled that Turkey is a country that brings terrorists and mercenaries into the region; it is difficult to conceive that it can promote any peaceful or peacekeeping process in the region.