Russia interested in lasting peace in Caucasus – envoy to Armenia
Arminfo
9 Mar 05
Yerevan, 9 March: The Russian ambassador to Armenia, Anatoliy
Dryukov, has described as fictitious the media reports that “Russia
is leaving the Caucasus and Armenia.” The ambassador said this at a
solemn ceremony at the Russian-Armenian (Slavic) University [RAU] to
award him the honorary RAU Order and the title of the university’s
honorary doctor. He stressed that Russia is “a Caucasus country”, and
therefore, Russia is extremely interested in establishing a lasting
peace in this region.
Dryukov said that politicians who discuss Russia’s dwindling
influence in Armenia are formulating the question incorrectly. He
noted that Armenia must conduct not a pro-Russian or pro-Western, but
a pro-Armenian policy based on securing national interests. Dryukov
thinks that “the world has changed and there are no opposing camps or
Cold War.”
The head of the Russian diplomatic mission noted with regret that the
psychological perception of the population both in the CIS and in the
West is changing very slowly, “and many are still talking from Cold
War positions”.
Nevertheless, the latest events in the world compel people “to be
united, not disunited”. International terrorism, nonproliferation of
weapons of mass destruction, transnational crime and kidnapping – all
these problems, Dryukov said, compel Russia and Western countries to
look jointly for effective methods of struggle. He stated that the
old system based on the Treaty of Versailles has exhausted itself and
a new international system will be established in view of these
realities.
The Russian diplomat stated that the main path of the development of
the world community is democracy. Therefore, Russia is carrying out
an absolutely ideology-free and pragmatic policy with no dividing
lines.