Russia is not going to withdraw its military base from Armenia – Lavrov

Baku/28.12.23/Turan: Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has made it clear that Moscow is not going to withdraw its military base from Armenia.

"We consider harmful speculations on the topic of expediency of locating the 102nd Russian military base on the territory of Armenia. The agreement on its deployment was concluded on 16 March 1995, based primarily on the national interests and the common task of our states to strengthen stability in the South Caucasus. Today our military is a key element in ensuring peace in this region," Lavrov told TASS.

Yerevan has recently been developing co-operation with NATO and its individual member states, the Russian diplomat noted.

"This year Armenia has taken part in several dozens of events with the alliance. The country continues to modernise its armed forces according to NATO standards, its military are being trained in a number of North Atlantic bloc states. This cannot but cause us concern. We have repeatedly drawn the attention of our Armenian colleagues that the true goal of the NATO members is to strengthen their positions in the region, to create conditions for manipulations according to the scheme of "divide and rule", Lavrov continued.

He expressed hope that "Yerevan is aware that deepening cooperation with the alliance leads to the loss of sovereignty in the sphere of national defence and security".-06B-