EN
14 February 2003 - 15:06 AMT

NATO SUGGESTS ARMENIA COOPERATION ONLY

The only thing that NATO suggests to Armenia is cooperation, which is accepted by the republic, of course. Armenian defense minister, secretary of the Security Council under the Armenian president Serge Sargsian said in an interview to “Russian Newspaper.” In his words, Armenia is ready to cooperate with the North Atlantic alliance due to several reasons – first of all because the NATO is the most solid security system in Europe. Moreover, recently NATO interests apparently close in with those of Russia, which is a strategic partner of Armenia. “Cooperation for the sake of modernizing our armed forces is important for us,” – the minister noted. In his words, high fighting efficiency of the Armenian armed forces, bilateral cooperation with Russia, and only after that collective cooperation, including that with NATO, are necessary preconditions for the securing Armenia. “The issue of accession to NATO has not been and is not on the agenda of the Armenian foreign policy,” – the Armenian defense department head emphasized.