ArmInfo. Russia has sees no problem in the development of relations between Armenia and external partners, if the latter respect the obligations that exist in the CIS, CSTO and the EAEU. Russian Minister of Foreign Affairs Sergey Lavrov said this on November 11 in Yerevan at the Museum-Institute of Ancient Manuscripts "Matenadaran" at a meeting with students of Armenian universities.
"Our European colleagues have a habit to establish their own rules, adopt their doctrines, declarations in any region whith which they begin to interact, ignoring what was done in this region before the EU became interested in it," Lavrov said, in this context recalling that when Armenia was negotiating around an Association Agreement with the EU, there were attempts by friends from the European Union to completely ignore other obligations that Yerevan has long had with the CIS, CSTO, and EAEU. However, Lavrov continued, Armenia confirmed its commitment to these obligations in this agreement and emphasized that they fully retain their importance and weight for it.
As an example, the head of the Russian diplomatic service cited the methods that the EU uses in the Black Sea. "Together with Armenia we participate in the Organization of the Black Sea Economic Cooperation (BSEC), the European Union is an observer in this organization. However, our desire to bring the methods by which the EU works in the Black Sea in line with the decisions of the BSEC itself does not yet meet much understanding of our European partners," the Russian Foreign Minister said, adding that relations between Moscow and Yerevan are close and allied ones.
Touching on the relations between Russia and the European Union, Lavrov emphasized that Moscow had never initiated a deterioration in relations with the European Union, and they became complicated after the EU supported the interference by the US in the situation in Ukraine.