YEREVAN (Arka)—The Nagorno-Karabakh Republic may be eligible to join the Russian-led Customs Union only after settlement of the Karabakh conflict and determination of its status, Viktor Khristenko, head of the Eurasian Economic Commission, said Thursday during a meeting with the Yerevan State University’s professors and students.
Along with that, Khristenko stressed that the conflict can’t bar Armenia from joining the Customs Union, and added that membership would even improve things over Nagorno Karabakh.
Khristenko also turned to Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko’s recent remark.
The latter said at his meeting with representatives of CIS countries that Azerbaijani authorities’ opinion should be taken into account before accepting Armenia into the Customs Union, since there are many unsolved problems between the two countries.
Khristenko said that Lukashenko has no right to comment on a statement of a sovereign country’s president and added that only the consent of members of the Customs Union is needed to accept a candidate.
In early September, Armenian President Serzh Sarkisian and his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, made a joint statement announcing that Armenia has decided to join the Customs Union and to take part in the future formation of the Eurasian Union.
First Things First: The Nagorno-Karabagh Republic should join Armenian Independent Republic, the two forming “Custom Union” of South Caucasian Armenian Republics. I hope that Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko is-not another “Stalin” in waiting!
When was the last time a high ranking Western official made a comment like this? Thank God for Mother Russia!