Mirzoyan: Yerevan is not going to reformat its allied relations with Moscow

YEREVAN, May 21. /ARKA/. Armenia is not going to reformat its allied relations with Russia. This was stated by Armenian Foreign Minister Ararat Mirzoyan at a joint press conference with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov in Yerevan.

This was his comment on his words at the opening of the regional meeting of EU ambassadors to Eastern Europe and Central Asia in Yerevan that the existing security architecture is ineffective. He also answered questions about whether Yerevan should be expected to reformat its relations with Russia in light of such a statement and whether Armenia will seek new partners in Europe.

"Our obligations, rights and intentions towards each other are clearly written down on paper, signed and ratified. No one has canceled them. At the same time, the Armenian side is known to be concerned that the envisaged measures have not always been implemented and not in full," Mirzoyan said.

According to him, the issue of the effectiveness of the established mechanisms can be discussed.

"But our agenda does not include the issue of reformatting these mechanisms and relations in general. Of course, there is the issue of our relations within the framework of multilateral associations, for example, in the CSTO. It is no secret that we are not satisfied with the CSTO's response to very specific events. It is known that we have frozen our activities in this organization. I would not draw far-reaching conclusions," Mirzoyan said.

He called the discussions with Lavrov very constructive, including both problematic and positive issues.

"These are healthy partnerships and discussions," Mirzoyan said.

He also called for conveying the full context of his statement.

"First of all, I spoke about the security architecture that has existed in the world for decades, and that in recent years this architecture has not been so effective in a number of regions. But of course, I spoke about us, too, I will not deny it. We have realized from our own bad experience that this architecture does not work. We ourselves were forced to reformat, re-analyze, and improve this security architecture. This is a consistent process," Mirzoyan said.

Lavrov, in turn, noted that regional pan-European security concerns everyone.

"We share the fundamental assessment that the European security system that has existed until now has proven its ineffectiveness, and has proven it for a long time and repeatedly," Lavrov said.

He recalled that the backbone of the current structures in the security sphere were Euro-Atlantic structures. If we take such an inclusive structure, then this is, of course, the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe. If we take a structure that decided, despite the creation of the OSCE, to do everything to maintain its dominant position without transferring the functions of defining and implementing the relevant principles, then this is, of course, the North Atlantic Alliance.

"Recently, the EU has also had to be considered part of the Euro-Atlantic structure, since it, having signed agreements with NATO and having delegated to NATO a significant part of its powers in the security sphere, is simultaneously engaged in its own EU militarization," Lavrov said.

He noted that this framework of security structures has not passed the test of strength.

"We think that a fairer security system will be one that is not imposed from above by any one structure, but one that comes from life. For example, there are a number of integration associations on the Eurasian continent: the Eurasian Economic Community, the CIS, the CSTO, ASEAN and others. Memorandums of cooperation have been concluded between many of these structures. Thus, a kind of large Eurasian space is being formed, as Russian President Vladimir Putin described it," Mirzoyan said.

He expressed the opinion that all this forms the material foundation for the future security architecture. The economy, when it connects nations, always helps to agree on how to neutralize challenges and threats. Therefore, the Eurasian security architecture is very, very promising. The doors for participation in discussions on how to create it have been open for a couple of years in Minsk. Conferences are held with the participation of the Minister of Foreign Affairs, their deputies, the political science community on the development of the Charter of Diversity and Multipolarity in the 21st Century.

"No one can forbid anyone to develop relations with any country in the world. But this should not be a zero-sum game. You cannot come and say: let us offer you a project that interests you, but you will stop communicating with someone else. This is not our principle. This is a principle that has been defined since ancient times as "Divide and rule." It is clear that there is nothing democratic, nothing free in this principle," Lavrov said. -0-