The sharp crisis in the relations between
Russia and the West did not touch on the South Caucasus and did not result in
inbalancing of the situation in this region, Nikolai Silaev, Senior Research
Associate of the Center for Research on the Caucasus at Moscow State Institute
of International Relations, said at today's presentation of the report
entitled,"Russia-Armenia Integration against the Background of Global
Crisis."
He said that the relations of Russia with the South
Caucasus countries and, in particular, with its strategic partner Armenia are
strong enough to overcome the crisis in the international relations. "These
relations are growing deeper, and Armenia is joining the Russia-led Eurasian
Economic Union. And it is normal that this process is accompanied with the
stormy domestic political discussions. At the same time, it is obvious that the
developed relations between the two countries in the security sector also exist
today in the economic sector," Nikolai Silaev added.
He also emphasized that only deployment of the Russian
military base in Armenia is not enough for the economic integration at the
post-Soviet area. And Georgia's experience is evidence of that, as Russian
military units were deployed there several years ago. "The relations of
Russia with its partners at the post-Soviet area should become multilateral and
should not be limited only by the military cooperation",- the expert said.