US ‘security guarantees’ may leave Yerevan disappointed — Russian Security Council

TASS

MOSCOW, September 24. /TASS/. Deputy Secretary of the Russian Security Council, Army General Oleg Salyukov warned Yerevan of the disappointment that US "security guarantees" may bring.

"If Yerevan chooses American security guarantees, this will definitely entail possible disappointment with the results obtained," he told reporters.

Salyukov noted that "the events related to the transfer of Nagorno-Karabakh under Azerbaijan’s jurisdiction were largely the result of the policy pursued by the Armenian leadership that came to power as a result of the so-called Velvet Revolution of 2018." "However, the results of these events were used by the Armenian leadership not as an incentive to work on mistakes, but as a pretext for public statements about the ineffectiveness of military-technical cooperation with Russia and Armenia’s participation in the Collective Security Treaty Organization, which, in our view, is completely unfounded and short-sighted," the Russian Security Council deputy secretary stressed.

He recalled that cooperation between Russia and Armenia "in the military sphere after the formation of the Commonwealth of Independent States and the establishment of the Collective Security Treaty Organization structures was carried out on the principle of common military and economic security across the entire range of areas, with unified standards for building armed forces, including military training."

"Armenia’s armed forces are currently 90% equipped with Russian weapons and possess the most advanced Russian weapons systems, including Iskander tactical ballistic missile systems, Tor-M2 air defense systems, Su-30SM aircraft and advanced armored vehicles. Most of the officer corps of Armenia’s armed forces are graduates of Soviet and Russian military educational institutions," Salyukov cited as examples.

"As for the Collective Security Treaty Organization. Mr. [Armenian Prime Minister Nikol] Pashinyan regularly says that he has no objection to Armenia being expelled from the Collective Security Treaty Organization. Russia, meanwhile, has already proven more than once in the new century that, provided mutual agreements are observed, it is a security guarantor for the countries participating in the Collective Security Treaty Organization," the Russian Security Council deputy secretary stressed.

Fonte: TASS