Zakharova says Russia and Armenia remain allies
YEREVAN, February 8. /ARKA/. Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova commented on Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan's statement that Russia can no longer be considered a key defense partner.
"Our countries remain allies; the interests of the Armenian people are inseparable from good neighborly ties with Russia. We hope that the Armenian leadership will take this into account and make the right choice against the backdrop of the current geopolitical transformations. I would like to emphasize that I mean a right choice not from the point of view of Russia, but from the point of view of the interests of the people of Armenia. Specifically, the Russian Federation and the Republic of Armenia have a reliable bilateral legal framework in the field of security and military-technical cooperation, which include the 1997 Treaty of Friendship, Cooperation and Mutual Assistance, the 1995 treaty On the Russian military base on the territory of Armenia, interstate agreements on the creation of a unified regional air defense system of 2015 and on joint air defense combat duty of 2000,’ Zakharova said.
"Both countries have obligations to each other, including defense of sovereignty, territorial integrity and ensuring security," Zakharova said.
She said that Yerevan is also under collective guarantees within the CSTO, including for possible aggression.
‘In order to develop and strengthen the Collective Security Treaty, in 2016 Russia and Armenia signed an agreement on the Joint Group of Forces designed to ensure the security of the parties in the Caucasus region of collective security,’ she recalled.
"In this sense, the return to active cooperation within the CSTO is primarily in the interests of Armenia itself. Yerevan has at its disposal a wide range of opportunities of the organization, its potential based on years of experience. We are convinced that unlike the pseudo-observers of the EU mission, who deal with issues far from the stated goals, the CSTO is capable of playing a stabilizing role in the South Caucasus," Zakharova said.
Armenian Foreign Minister Ararat Mirzoyan and Defense Minister Suren Papikyan refused to participate in a joint meeting of CSTO foreign and defense ministers in November last year in the Belarusian capital Minsk. Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan did not either go to Minsk for the CSTO summit.
Earlier in an interview with The Wall Street Journal, Pashinyan said that Azerbaijan's aggressive actions and the CSTO's inaction forced Armenia to seek diversification of security relations.
Last year Armenia refused to host CSTO military exercises, saying it expected the Russian-led military pact to make a clear assessment of Azerbaijan's continued occupation of parts of Armenia's sovereign territories.
In another rupture between Armenia and the CSTO, Yerevan decided not to fill its quota for the post of CSTO deputy secretary general. Armenia has also recalled its ambassador from the military alliance and has yet to appoint a replacement. -0-
