Armenia`s transition under U.S., NATO umbrella to make it impossible  to maintain common defense space with Russia within CSTO - Mikhail  Galuzin

ArmInfo. The transition of Armenia under the "umbrella" of the United States and NATO will make  it impossible to maintain a single defense space with the Russian  Federation and within the CSTO. This was stated by Deputy Foreign  Minister of the Russian Federation Mikhail Galuzin.

The diplomat noted that Russia does not have the "habit" of  interfering in the internal affairs of other states, since it knows  from its own experience how detrimentally this can affect the  development of the country.

At the same time, he emphasized that Moscow sincerely values ties  with Armenia and tries to build them in a mutually respectful and  mutually beneficial manner.

"The West, on the contrary, views the republic utilitarianly, as one  of the instruments of a hybrid war against Russia and other countries  of the South Caucasus. The goal is clear - to use the Armenian  "bridgehead" to form another source of tension in the region,"  Galuzin believes.

He is convinced that Western capitals are ready to calmly "bet on the  stake" on the socio-economic situation of the republic and its  security.

"Representatives of the United States, the European Union and NATO  are calling on Yerevan to sever all ties with Moscow and are seeking  to withdraw from our common integration associations. We see that  Armenia is actively being lured by the European perspective. It is  easy to guess that the country will be persuaded to abandon the  mechanisms that provide its economy with record growth over the past  years.  The severance of economic ties with Russia will mean the loss  of the main market for Armenian business," he noted.

"Further erosion of Armenia's sovereignty in the security sphere and  the transition to Western patterns under the "paper umbrella" of the  United States and NATO will simply make it impossible to maintain a  single defense space with Russia and within the CSTO," he told  Komsomolskaya Pravda.

As the Deputy Head of the Russian Foreign Ministry noted, under the  influence of Western narratives there was a sharp narrowing of  bilateral political contacts.

Unfounded criticism of Russia, the CSTO, and the existing security  system is increasingly heard from Yerevan. This is, to say the least,  unconstructive and short-sighted," Galuzin believes.

In his opinion, Yerevan's full participation in the work of the CSTO  meets the aspirations of the Armenian people and serves the cause of  maintaining peace and stability in the South Caucasus.

"No matter what the Westerners promise, who pushed the Armenian  authorities to "freeze" participation in the Organization, there are  no effective alternatives to the CSTO as a mechanism for ensuring the  security of Armenia today," the Russian diplomat is confident.

"The work to build the potential of the CSTO is moving  systematically, leaving Yerevan behind," said the Russian deputy  minister.

"New algorithms for crisis response are being developed, the  capabilities of the Organization's Collective Forces are being  strengthened, taking into account Russian combat experience, and  serious program documents are being adopted to ensure the border  security of our allies in Central Asia," Galuzin said.

As the Russian diplomat noted, Moscow has repeatedly and at various  levels clearly communicated its readiness to discuss issues that  concern Yerevan.

"They emphasized that Moscow was and remains committed to the entire  range of agreements both at the bilateral level and within the  framework of general integration structures, and did not abandon its  obligations to its allies. At the same time, we never received a  reaction to our various initiatives," said the Russian Deputy  Minister.

According to him, Moscow expects that "the Armenian leadership will  have enough political wisdom to understand the illusory nature of the  West's promises and the critical importance of relations with Russia  from the point of view of the sovereignty, security and economic  development of the republic."