Deepening Armenia’s dialogue with NATO leads to loss of defense sovereignty, says Russian FM

Russia expects that Armenia is aware of the risk of losing its state sovereignty as a result of deepening dialogue with NATO, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said in an exclusive interview with TASS.

“I hope that Yerevan is aware that deepening cooperation with NATO leads to the loss of sovereignty in the sphere of national defense and security,” he said.

The Russian FM stressed that Armenia has participated in several dozen events with the North Atlantic Alliance this year. According to him, the republic continues to upgrade its armed forces to bring them to NATO standards, and its military are being trained in a number of the organization’s member states.

“This cannot but cause us concern. We have repeatedly drawn the attention of our Armenian colleagues that the true goal of NATO is to strengthen its positions in the region and create conditions for manipulation according to the ‘divide and rule’ scheme,” Lavrov added.

According to him, Western countries do not seek to bring peace and stability to Armenia and the South Caucasus in general; their task is to oust Russia.

“Armenia is currently facing a number of challenges. Moreover, it will not be possible to stop them with the help of Western players. The United States and the EU, unlike Russia, do not seek to bring peace and stability to the republic and the South Caucasus as a whole,” the Russian FM noted.

“Their task is completely different: to oust Moscow and other regionals and create a new hotbed of tension following the Balkans, the Middle East and Ukraine,” Lavrov added.

At the same time, he stressed that “the way out of a difficult situation is obvious: to fulfill the trilateral agreements of Yerevan, Baku and Moscow at the highest level.”