Hayk Khalatyan: While in Armenia, NATO Secretary General will not miss the opportunity to make anti-Russian statements

In the past, Yerevan had a clear answer to any criticism from Moscow: we cooperate with both the CSTO and NATO, said Hayk Khalatyan, Head of the Analytical Center for Strategic Research and Initiatives and Editor-in-Chief of Alpha News in Moscow.

“The NATO Secretary General comes to Armenia to allegedly discuss cooperation, since they have a separate agenda for each country. The problem is not that we cooperate with NATO—we have done this before—as well as with the CSTO. However, in the past, we also participated in CSTO exercises, and to any criticism from the Russian side, Armenia clearly responded that it was cooperating with them as well. This was quite acceptable for Moscow because no one in Yerevan questioned the priority and importance of the CSTO in allied relations with Russia,” Hayk Khalatyan said.

He is confident that after Armenia becomes a candidate for EU membership, it will leave the EAEU.

“On the one hand, Armenia completely sabotages military cooperation both within the CSTO and in Armenian-Russian relations. Moreover, we see statements by senior officials and parliamentarians that military exercises between Armenia and the CSTO are perceived by Azerbaijan as a threat. The question arises whether military exercises conducted with NATO or the Americans are a threat or whether any military exercises could be perceived by Azerbaijan as a threat from this point of view. Moscow will perceive all this extremely negatively. We are already seeing recent statements in which withdrawal from the CSTO is not even ruled out. Now they are talking about obtaining EU candidate status. This will undoubtedly raise the issue of quitting the EAEU because it is simply impossible to combine these two issues,” Hayk Khalatyan said.

Our interlocutor also expressed confidence that while in Armenia, the NATO Secretary General will make anti-Russian statements.

“Since the NATO Secretary General is coming to Armenia, we will all hear his statements. Unfortunately, I fear that Stoltenberg will make provocative statements, which, to say the least, will not receive an adequate response from the Armenian authorities. Considering that NATO views Russia as an enemy and states that it is necessary to defeat Russia, it is likely that Stoltenberg will come to Armenia and will not miss the opportunity to make anti-Russian statements,” Hayk Khalatyan concluded.