MOSCOW WON’T PUT PRESSURE ON ARMENIA, SAYS RUSSIAN AMBASSADOR TO TURKEY
Tert.am
13:37 â~@¢ 20.01.10
Although Turkey and Russia are fostering closer relations and economic
ties, the developments are not due to a "strategic partnership"
but "common interests," according to Russian Ambassador to Turkey
Vladimir Ivanovskiy, reports Turkish news source Hurriyet Daily News &
Economic Review.
"Looking at the real interests that are common in the Black Sea,
Middle East and Central Asia, Turkey and Russia are becoming good
partners, especially in the field of energy," the ambassador said.
"There is no political motivation behind boosting energy cooperation
but bilateral economic interests," he added. "I don’t like the term
‘strategic partnership’."
Referring to relations with Armenia, Ivanovskiy said, "We have been
playing honestly since the beginning. What Lavrov said in Yerevan is
the same as what Putin and Medvedev told Erdogan in Moscow."
During his recent visit to Yerevan, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey
Lavrov had told reporters that to attempt and artificially link
Armenia-Turkey relations with the settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh
conflict is not correct.
Russia will not put pressure on Armenia to withdraw from
Nagorno-Karabakh, the ambassador added. "As the Turkish side already
knows, we [i.e. Russia] will not take sides. We will not put pressure
on anybody in order to solve the problem," he said, adding that such
pressure may have negative results.
According to the ambassador, French President Nicolas Sarkozy and
Obama have expressed similar views as well.