RIA Novosti, Russia
July 4 2005

Russia has greatest influence on Armenia – poll
16:09

YEREVAN, July 4 (RIA Novosti, Gamlet Matevosyan) – Most Armenians say
that Russia has the greatest influence on their country.

Stepan Safaryan of the Armenian Strategic and National Research
Center (ATsSNI) said that 85% of experts polled and 58.9% of other
respondents considered Russia to be the country with the greatest
influence on Armenia.

Safaryan also said that 52.5% of the Armenian experts supported
Armenia joining NATO, with 30% against. Most supporters of NATO
accession (63.7%) said that Armenia, Georgia and Azerbaijan needed a
common security system, and 31.8% of them said that NATO was the most
effective.

77.8% of experts who opposed joining NATO said Armenia would not be
welcome in the alliance, while 22.2% said accession was impossible
because of tensions with Turkey.

Safaryan said that only 34.7% of civilian respondents backed the idea
of the accession to NATO, citing the need for an effective security
system, while 33.9% were against, saying Armenia should remain a
member of the Collective Security Treaty Organization, which also
includes Russia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan.

ATsSNI conducted the poll of 40 experts and 1,500 civilians on June
18-25.