ArmInfo.The visit of NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg to the South Caucasus is a manifestation of another attempt to bring the South Caucasian republics into the zone of Euro-Atlantic influence. This was stated on March 20 during a weekly briefing by official representative of the Russian Foreign Ministry, Maria Zakharova, in response to a request to comment on the tour of the NATO Secretary General to the countries of the South Caucasus.
According to her, these attempts are being made by both NATO and its member countries individually and systematically.
"The visit of a NATO official of this level confirms that NATO's activity in this direction has increased, and manifold. What is the problem, what is the point? And the point is that there seem to be fewer problems in the South Caucasus. And who in the West can satisfy or will they like it? Westerners are haunted by the very fact of interaction between these states, which was beginning to line up in line with peace agreements. Westerners are not satisfied with the very fact of communication between these states and Russia - equal, mutually respectful and aimed at global peace in the region. Hence the ongoing attempts by NATO and the EU that has joined it to stimulate a severance of relations between the countries of the region both with each other and with Moscow, as well as to aggravate the situation along the perimeter of our southern borders," Zakharova noted.
At the same time, she assures that there is a maximum task - namely, to open a second front against Russia in Transcaucasia and, in general, to set the region on fire again. Zakharova is confident that the agreements that were reached through the mediation of Russia literally worked as a "red rag" for the West, since it was truly a road to peace, based on mutual respect and consideration of interests.
According to her, coalition standards are being actively imposed on Tbilisi in order to gain control over the defense and security sectors.
"Recently, NATO emissaries have become more active in the Armenian direction. In particular, they are pushing the Individual Partnership Action Plan." Efforts are aimed at discrediting Yerevan's ties with Moscow, and ideally, a complete curtailment of our contacts. Westerners do not hide this at all. Now they are trying drive a wedge into our partnership with Baku. That is, they have a wide range of goals and objectives," the representative of the Russian Foreign Ministry added.
She also considers it obvious that the NATO bloc is not interested in peace and stability in the South Caucasus. "What Washington and its satellites have become adept at is planting an anti-Russian narrative in the region, bringing chaos and tension - something they really know how to do and love to do. The bloc's intervention in the affairs of the region will only lead to destabilization of an already difficult situation. Efforts so-called helpers are unlikely to meet the interests of the peoples living in the South Caucasus," she believes.
Earlier, Prime Minister of Armenia Nikol Pashinyan, during a conversation with residents of border villages, said that if Yerevan does not comply with Baku's demands to transfer a number of border villages to Azerbaijan, then a war will begin. And in case of war, Turkiye will support Azerbaijan.