Wednesday, August 2 2017 14:45

ArmInfo. The visit by US Vice President Mike Pence to NATO exercises in Georgia is nothing more than a signal to Russia about the resources of US pressure on its  sore points in the South Caucasus. And Washington still has these  resources. An expert of the Russian Council on Foreign Affairs and  the Valdai Club, the editor of Al-Monitor (USA) Maxim Suchkov  expressed such an opinion.

US Vice President Mike Pence visited the NATO exercise Noble  Partner 2017 (Worthy Partner - 2017) at the Vaziani training ground  in Georgia. The exercises started on July 30 and will end on August  13. A total of 3,000 servicemen from 8 countries participate in the  exercises: five NATO countries: the United States, Great Britain,  Germany, Slovenia, Turkey and three allied countries: Ukraine,  Armenia and Georgia. About 1,600 American, as well as 800 Georgian  servicemen take part in the exercises. The Armenian Armed Forces are  represented on Noble Partner 2017 by a platoon of 40 people.

"Since the collapse of the Soviet Union, the post-Soviet space is in  fact one of the most uncompromising rivalry between Russia and the US  In this light, the growing negative in Russian-American relations can  not, of course, have a positive impact on such a significant  geopolitical space," he said. According to expert estimates, even if  the post-Soviet space does not rank first among US foreign policy  priorities, Washington has serious interests on this space, almost  similar to Moscow's.

In this context, Suchkov believes that in the long run such a  confrontation between Moscow and Washington to the post-Soviet states  can only do much harm. This should make people who in these  countries, perhaps, see the possibility of receiving political or  economic dividends in the current Russian- American controversies be  sobered.