The Russian Foreign Ministry seemingly took sides with Azerbaijan, which has complained on numerous occasions about Armenia’s recent military alliances and overtures by the United States and the European Union for support in that sector.
“I would like to hope that one day—sooner rather than latear— there will be a time when a third parties will become unnecessary in the relations between Azerbaijan and Armenia,” Russian foreign ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova said during a press briefing on Wednesday, News.am reported.
Zakharova’s statement came as a response to a reporter’s question regarding a statement made by Azerbaijan’s presidential advisor Hikmet Hajiyev, who declared that the best solution for Armenia would be neutrality, “not military alliances that threaten Azerbaijan’s security.”
It was pointed out to Zakharova that Hajiyev also meant Armenia’s membership in the Russia-led Collective Security Treaty Organization.
Explaining that the CSTO in not a military alliance, Zakharova said that she “did not see a single quote” of Hajiyev saying that the CSTO poses a threat to Azerbaijan.
“The CSTO is an organization that unites countries concerned about their security. And neither in the statutory documents nor in the history of the activity is there anything confirming or indicating that this structure is directed against someone. There are very clear challenges, there are clear tasks, goals with which this structure works,” Zakharova emphasized, in particular.
“As for military development, it is the task of each sovereign state. The main thing is that it does not disrupt the regional balance of forces and is not directed against each other,” Zakharova said.
The foreign ministry spokesperson also lamented about Armenia’s decision to “freeze” its membership in the CSTO.
“We welcome Armenia’s active participation in the EEU… We are sorry for Armenia’s continuous freeze or boycott of its activities within the CSTO,” Zakharova said, referring to Armenia’s current chairmanship of the Eurasian Economic Union. Yerevan, this week, hosted a summit with Russia’s Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin in attendance.
“The country itself should decide what is important for it, what it needs. We simply consider that the CSTO is as useful in the security sector as the EEU is in the economic sector, and we do not see any obstacles to cooperation with Armenia within the framework of these two organizations,” Zakharova said.
