UPI
July 6, 2005 Wednesday 12:08 AM EST
NATO offers Armenia assistance
YEREVAN, Armenia
NATO has offered Armenia assistance if its government becomes
discontented with Russian bases on its territory.
NATO’s special envoy to the South Caucasus and Central Asia, Robert
Simons, praised the recent round of Russo-Georgian discussions, which
he noted resulted in Moscow agreeing to honor its Organization for
Security and Cooperation in Europe commitments — made at the 1999
Istanbul summit.
“Russia has maintained its military base in Armenia. This is in line
with the Treaty on Conventional Arms in Europe. On the other hand,
this is undesirable, as certain challenges may arise if Armenia grows
discontented with Russian military presence in its territory,” Simons
said.
Assa-Irada’s news agency reported that Simons tempered his remarks by
commenting that Russian bases on Armenian territory would not likely
affect NATO-Armenia relations, noting, “This is not a problem for
NATO. The alliance does not build ties with its partner states based
on competition and does not see Russia as its rival in the Caucasus.”
Simons concluded that in terms of its ties with NATO, Georgia is far
ahead of Azerbaijan and Armenia and is the only Caucasus state to
have expressed its willingness to enter the alliance.