Pashinyan's policy threatens new disaster: ex-NSA chief on agreement with US

Former director of Armenia's National Security Service Artur Vanetsyan criticized the signing of a strategic partnership agreement with the United States, calling the move hasty and not taking into account possible consequences.

In his social networks, the former law enforcer and leader of the Fatherland party writes that any state decision should be based on the interest of the country. However, in the case of this agreement, there is a rush to please others. The politician assumes that according to the laws of the genre, Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan will soon announce his withdrawal from the Collective Security Treaty Organization. Russia, in turn, has already stated that Armenia cannot remain a member of the Eurasian Economic Union and at the same time have EU membership on the agenda.

“It is obvious that Nikol Pashinyan's foreign policy continues to remain in the logic of an adventure, threatening to bring a new disaster on our country,” Vanetsyan wrote.

To recall, the document signed by Yerevan and Washington covers a number of key areas where the Americans intend to “support” Armenia. These are economy (including energy and innovation), defense, security, democracy development and justice. Thus, one of the components of cooperation will be border security and the establishment of a relevant joint commission. As part of this, a customs and border control team will soon arrive in Armenia to “strengthen border security.” Yerevan is also joining the global coalition to fight ISIS and is preparing to conclude another agreement with the U.S. on peaceful nuclear energy (negotiations have started).

It is noteworthy that the document was signed by the outgoing Biden administration. What are the prospects for its implementation under Trump, the question remains open.

Commenting on the signing, Russian Presidential Spokesman Dmitry Peskov said earlier that it is Yerevan's sovereign decision and Russia, for its part, values relations with Armenia and will continue to develop them. The Kremlin spokesman noted that the United States has never played a stabilizing role in the South Caucasus.

For his part, Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said that the main thing in this issue is not the name of the document, but what follows from this agreement. He recalled that Russia also had many treaties with Western countries, and they were qualified as strategic partnership agreements. But these treaties never required the parties to act against third countries, the Russian Foreign Minister emphasized. He did not rule out that Yerevan will be required to support sanctions against Russia.

Reprinted from https://am.sputniknews.ru/