ARMENIA TO PARTICIPATE IN NATO EXERCISES IN GEORGIA
Gita Elibekyan

"Radiolur"
21.04.2009 17:37

NATO’s intention to hold military exercises in Georgia faced a harsh
reaction from Russia. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov rushed
to declare that arming Georgia could be dangerous for the region.

This was followed by a similar statement of the Russian President,
Dmitry Medvedev during the joint press conference with his Azerbaijani
counterpart Ilham Aliyev. "When this or that block holds military
exercises in regions, where the situation was very tense quite
recently, it threatens with various complications," Medvedev declared.

The Secretary General of the Collective Security Treaty Organization,
Nikolay Bordyuzha described the decision of the North-Atlantic Alliance
as a provocation. "NATO’s step is targeted at aggravating the situation
in the South Caucasus," CSTO Secretary General said.

Although a CSTO member, Armenia has agreed to participate in NATO
trainings.

Doesn’t this jeopardize the Armenian-Russian relations? In response
to the question, the Head of the CSTO Information Center in Armenia,
Tigran Karapetyan said: "Armenia took the decision to participate
in the military exercises long ago. Whatever, I disagree with that
complementary policy Armenia has been conducting ever since the times
of Kocharyan and Oskanyan. We should make our position clear to our
strategic partners".

"I think our President has to give clarifications," Karapetyan added.

According to political scientist Sergey Minasyan, it’s not a secret for
either Russia or NATO that being a member of the CSTO, Armenia actively
cooperates with NATO and other western structures. "Therefore, it is
clear that the Republic of Armenia should continue its complementary
policy. I don’t think this will bring about problems in Armenia’s
relations with NATO or CSTO," he said.

However, these are political opinions, while official Yerevan has
not expressed its official stance so far.