Mirzoyan: Armenia has no plans to reformat its allied relations with Russia
ArmInfo. Armenia is not considering the issue of reformatting its allied relations with Russia, as stated by the head of the Armenian Foreign Ministry Ararat Mirzoyan at a joint press conference with his Russian counterpart Sergey Lavrov following the talks in Yerevan on May 21.
In response to a question about whether Armenia is considering the possibility of revising relations with Russia and the CIS, taking into account his statement made the day before that the security architecture has proven to be ineffective, Mirzoyan suggested considering the entire context of his statement at a meeting with European diplomats. The Armenian minister emphasized that when speaking about the shaky security architecture, he primarily meant that it had not proven effective in several countries. "Yes, of course, I meant our country as well. I do not deny it. We have learned from our own sad experience that this architecture does not work," the minister emphasized. In this vein, he noted that Armenia was forced to review, rebuild, and improve this security system. Mirzoyan also emphasized that this process is ongoing.
"As for whether we are going to reformat our allied relations with the Russian Federation, I will say frankly - no. Our commitments, rights, as well as intentions towards each other are clearly formulated on paper, signed and ratified. No one has annulled them," the head of the Armenian Foreign Ministry said. However, Mirzoyan noted that Yerevan is concerned that the existing mechanisms have not always worked fully and necessarily. According to him, this is a completely different issue. "Here we can talk about the possibility of increasing the effectiveness of these mechanisms. But the issue of reformatting these relations is not on our agenda," the chief diplomat of Armenia added.
He then touched upon the cooperation of the two countries within multilateral platforms, particularly, within the CSTO, and emphasized that Yerevan is not satisfied with the Organization's response to specific situations. In this vein, he recalled that Armenia has frozen its membership in the CSTO. "Here I would not make more far-reaching conclusions, but I would also like to note that our discussions with Lavrov are very constructive, containing both problematic and positive components. We are having healthy discussions," Mirzoyan concluded.