Expert: EAEU should not be an instrument of pressure on Armenia on  Karabakh issue (video)

ArmInfo.The countries of the EAEU should respect Armenia in cooperation with Azerbaijan, including in the defense sphere. Political scientist Gevorg Melikyan stated at the round table "New Challenges and Threats for Eurasian Integration" on June 1.

According to him, building the relationship with this or that country  is the sovereign right of each of the states, but one cannot ignore  Armenia's position on a number of sensitive issues. In this context,  he recalled that Armenia's allies in the EAEU Russia and Belarus sell  weapons to Azerbaijan, the president of another union state Nursultan  Nazarbayev read out the statement of the Azerbaijani leader at the  meeting of the EAEU, which can not but cause concern. "We need to  balance the partnership within this structure, the EAEU should not  become an instrument of pressure on Armenia on the Nagorno-Karabakh  issue, moreover, the EAEU is not the platform where such a plan  should be discussed at all," the political scientist said.

At the same time, he stressed that he always opposed Armenia's  accession to the EAEU, since he considers this structure to be  ineffective. In his deep conviction, since Armenia does not plan to  leave the structure in the foreseeable future, it is necessary to do  everything to enhance the effectiveness of this integration  association. Melikyan believes that it is necessary to avoid dividing  lines in general. In this regard, he recalled that, to some extent,  in his opinion, Armenia's decision on membership in EAEU was dictated  from outside, however, Yerevan's complementary policy and its  interaction with other integration projects should not cause concern  in the future for the partners in the EAEU. According to the expert,  it is necessary to increase the transparency of the EAEU, actively  involve civil society and the expert community of countries in the  issues, so that the decisions taken within the framework of the  organization would not be decisions made by five people. In addition,  it is necessary to specify the organization vector.

In turn, the Ambassador of Kazakhstan to Armenia Timur Urazaeva,  reacting to this speech of the expert, stressed that official Astana  from the very beginning expressed its position at all levels and  stated clearly that the EAEU is exclusively an economic integration  project. He noted that Kazakhstan is very actively involved in  solving issues within the EAEU and the expert community and  representatives of civil society.  For this purpose, all mechanisms  have been created in the EAEU. All countries-members of the  organization have the opportunity to conduct discussions on various  issues at different levels, as Kazakhstan does for example,  expressing its position on this or that issue. According to the  Ambassador, another question is whether these mechanisms are used at  the national level, that is, it is the national task to make these  mechanisms work effectively.

Touching upon the geopolitical aspect of cooperation and the issue of  arms deliveries to Azerbaijan, the ambassador noted that he is not  going to act as a lawyer for Russia or Belarus, expressing the  conviction that they are able to answer for themselves. "But I would  like to remind you that Kazakhstan has repeatedly stated that having  a developed military-industrial complex, nevertheless, it will not  sell weapons, but at the same time, for example, Russia does this, it  must be understood that" this is business, nothing personal, Russia  will sell it, someone else will sell it, moreover, the ambassador  said, each state has its own agenda of bilateral cooperation,  including in the defense sphere, and Kazakhstan-Azerbaijan  cooperation in the defense sphere is quite dynamic. "But I would like  to note, that despite the fact that Kazakhstan's production we have  always refrained from taking steps in this direction.As for the  letter read by our president, in my opinion, this is quite an honest  position - at the start of cooperation, at the initial stage, to  voice its position. going to swim a deep river with partners, then  negotiate on this side of the coast.This is a preventive measure in  order to honestly negotiate with partners, so as not to leave legal  wagons that can be used, including the third party>. The Ambassador  expressed his belief that Kazakhstan's position is fairly honest.