The United States and the European Union are not pressuring Armenia to leave Russian-led alliances of ex-Soviet states during Yerevan’s ongoing rapprochement with the Western powers, a senior Armenian official insisted on Thursday.
Deputy Foreign Minister Vahan Kostanyan also dismissed Russia’s concerns about Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan’s upcoming meeting with U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen which will underscore the change in Armenia’s geopolitical orientation.
“I don’t think that we should turn this event into a major geopolitical development,” Kostanyan said of the trilateral talks in Brussels scheduled for Friday. He said that they will focus on economic assistance to Armenia.
Read also
The Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman, Maria Zakharova, dismissed last week Yerevan’s assurances that the Brussels talks are “not directed against any third party.” She claimed that the West is turning Armenia into an “instrument for the implementation of its extremely dangerous plans” in the region.
“We are not going to be anyone’s instrument,” countered Kostanyan. “Maybe our sovereign foreign policy is causing some jitters in various capitals. I can’t react to that in any way, I can only wish good health.”
He specifically denied that Yerevan is facing Western pressure to leave the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) or the Eurasian Economic Union. “No such demand has been officially put before us,” he said.
Earlier this year, Pashinyan announced the effective suspension of Armenia’s membership in the CSTO and threatened to withdraw from the Russian-led military alliance altogether. He also did not rule out the possibility of applying for EU membership.
Pashinyan’s unprecedented meeting with the top U.S. and EU officials has also prompted protests from Azerbaijan. The Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry last week accused the West of siding with Yerevan in the Armenian-Azerbaijani conflict and encouraging it to take “destabilizing actions.”
For its part, Azerbaijan’s Defense Ministry claimed on Sunday and Monday that Armenia is massing troops along the Armenian-Azerbaijani border in possible preparation for “military provocations” there. It said on Thursday that the Azerbaijani army is ready to thwart such provocations.
Yerevan has strongly denied any military buildup. Some Armenian officials and pundits say Baku itself could launch offensive military operations on the border to try to scuttle the Brussels talks.