Russia accused France of provoking further armed conflict in the South Caucasus, reacting to reports that Armenia will acquire advanced defensive weapons from a French arms manufacturer.
Russia’s foreign ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova told a press briefing on Wednesday that France is not being guided by the interests of Armenia, “but only seeks to use the existing differences within various countries as a tool to achieve its own opportunistic goals.”
She accused France of being “conduit for NATO’s ideology” in the region.
Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Galuzin warned, in a newspaper interview on Monday, that if Yerevan continues to strengthen relations with the West, it might be left out of security and economic projects helmed by Russia and the Collective Security Treaty Organization.
Galuzin said that Western powers were using Armenia as a pawn in their ongoing conflict —war— with Russia, warning of “further erosion of Armenia’s sovereignty and security.”
The Russian official also accused the West of pushing Armenia to freeze its participation in the CSTO, adding that Western powers will also force Armenia to leave the Eurasian Economic Union.
“It’s not hard to guess that the country will be pressed to abandon the mechanisms that have ensured record growth of its [Armenia’s] economy in recent years,” Galuzin said. “Severing of economic ties with Russia will mean a loss of the main [export] market for Armenian business.”
Zakharova, on Wednesday, touched on Galuzin’s remarks, saying that Russia has never rejected arms negotiations with Armenia.
“Deliveries of [Russian] military equipment to foreign countries are carried out by taking into account the needs for a special military operation, as the leadership of the Russian Federation has repeatedly said,” Zakharova explained.
“Existing restrictions on certain types of weapons and military equipment apply not only to Armenia, but also to the technical-military cooperation with our other partners. As for the contacts with Armenia in that sector, we have not rejected them. They are proceeding on a regular basis, we have not seen any complaints from that [Armenian] side,” Zakharova added.
