Interfax, Russia
May 15 2009

Russian officials welcome Armenia’s refusal to join NATO drill in Georgia

Armenia’s decision to refuse to participate in NATO exercises in
Georgia is justified, The Russian news agency Interfax quoted the
secretary-general of the Collective Security Treaty Organization
(CSTO) as saying on 15 May.

CSTO Secretary-General Nikolay Bordyuzha said: "It is an absolutely
justified decision, because the holding of an exercise on Georgian
territory is nothing but the demonstration of NATO’s support for
Georgia’s actions in South Ossetia a year ago."

Bordyuzha added: "It is simply a provocation to demonstrate support
for aggressors today."

In a later report the same day, ITAR-TASS news agency quoted Russian
Security Council Deputy Secretary Yuriy Zubakov as saying that Russia
highly appreciates "the position of Armenian partners, who having
thoroughly assessed the situation, took a decision to refrain from
participating in the exercises" of NATO in Georgia. He was speaking at
an international conference on security and cooperation in Caucasus in
Yerevan on 15 May, ITAR-TASS said.

Zubakov said: "Undoubtedly, one could act in a more clever way: to
find a better place for such exercise than the conflict region or to
postpone it for a later period." He added that the holding of the
exercise "discredits the Partnership for Peace programme which is
further exacerbating the regional tension instead of strengthening
security and cooperation".