Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov speaks at a press conference on the margins of the UN General Assembly on Sep. 23
You’re ‘Either with Us or Against Us,’ Says Russia’s Ambassador to Armenia
Russian officials voiced their concerns about Armenia’s increasing embrace of the West after a NATO representative expressed support for Yerevan’s policies in the region.
Armenia is reorienting its foreign policy towards the West at the expense of its long-standing alliance with Russia, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said in an interview published on Thursday.
“Armenia has decided very clearly to make some shift in their foreign policy, to take some distance from Moscow,” Javier Colomina, the NATO secretary general’s special representative for the South Caucasus and Central Asia, told Georgian television earlier this week.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov addressed this head on when he voiced Moscow’s concern during an interview with the official Russian news agency Tass.
“Unfortunately, official Yerevan, succumbing to the persuasion of Westerners, is trying to reformat its foreign policy line,” Lavrov told TASS. “It is exchanging the time-tested alliance with Moscow not even for concrete help from the West but only for vague promises.”
Lavrov was particularly concerned about what he described as Armenia’s deepening ties with NATO.
“Yerevan has been developing cooperation with NATO and its individual member countries lately,” Lavrov said. “This year, Armenia took part in several dozen events with the alliance. It continues to modernize its armed forces according to NATO standards, and the republic’s military personnel are undergoing training in a number of NATO member states. This cannot fail to cause us concern.”
“I hope that Yerevan is aware that deepening interaction with the alliance leads to a loss of sovereignty in the field of national defense and security,” he warned.
Russia’s Ambassador to Armenia Sergey Kopyrkin was asked by Armenia’s Public Television about Lavrov’s remarks, saying that by setting up a joint observer mission in Artsakh with NATO member, Turkey, it is, in fact, Russia that has opened a foothold for the alliance in the region.
“We are aware of the extent of relations between Turkey and Azerbaijan. Turkey’s presence in the joint monitoring center is probably a reflection of that reality, but it is not Russia’s posturing toward NATO,” Kopyrkin said.
“When we [Russia] talk about NATO, we are concerned that what we call the ‘collective West’ has declared Russia their strategic opponent—and even enemy—at this moment. Certainly, Moscow is doubly cautious about the trends that exist in the relations with the West,” Kopyrkin explained.
The Russian envoy said that Moscow does not want to force a confrontation with the West, however, he said, “we view politics [as] ‘either with us or against us.’”
“In this situation, we must take into consideration that the West’s objectives are to force conflict against Russia itself on all fronts, be it regionally or internationally. From this point of view, Russia’s concern is understandable and justified,” Kopyrkin said.