Russian Foreign Ministry: If Armenia is interested, necessary  decisions on sending CSTO mission to region will be made

ArmInfo.Moscow records the persistent desire of the West to wedge itself into the formats of its interaction with Baku and Yerevan, the United States and the European  Union want to squeeze Russia out of the Transcaucasus. This was  stated in an interview with TASS by the director of the fourth  department of the CIS countries of the Russian Foreign Ministry Denis  Gonchar.

"We continue to record their persistent desire to wedge into our  trilateral formats with Azerbaijan and Armenia. And no matter how  Brussels and Washington try to present it differently, behind all  this is the desire to push Russia out of Transcaucasia, rather than  the desire to sincerely help to establish peace and stability in the  region. It is noteworthy that Washington and Brussels are afraid to  mention Russia even in a positive light and recognize the key  importance of trilateral agreements for the settlement of Armenian-  Azerbaijani relations," the diplomat said.

According to him, it is in this light that Russia views the  activities of the temporary EU observer mission in Armenia, "as well  as attempts to organize an OSCE mission in the region bypassing the  consensus rule." At the same time, Gonchar recalled that it was  thanks to the efforts of the command of Russian peacekeepers in  contacts with both sides that the September escalation of tension in  the area of the Armenian-Azerbaijani border was stopped.

"At the request of the Armenian side, steps were also taken promptly  through the CSTO, including convening an extraordinary session of the  Collective Security Council (CSC) of the CSTO, sending the Secretary  General of the organization and the Chief of the Joint Staff to  assess the situation on the ground, and working out the dispatch of a  CSTO monitoring mission to the border regions of Armenia. The  situation in the border area was substantively discussed at the  annual meeting of the CSTO CSC in Yerevan on November 23, "added the  director of the fourth department of the CIS countries of the Russian  Foreign Ministry.

He also pointed out that if the Armenian side is interested, the  necessary decisions on sending a CSTO monitoring mission to the  region will be promptly taken. "With the understanding that most of  the CSTO member countries see a long-term settlement of border  problems between Baku and Yerevan through the implementation of  trilateral agreements between the leaders of Russia, Azerbaijan and  Armenia, including the launch of practical and rhythmic work of the  commission on border delimitation," the diplomat specified.