MOSCOW, June 5. /TASS/. Armenia's pivot to the West may render joint efforts to set up a common defense space with Russia and other members of the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) impossible, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Galuzin told TASS in an interview.

According to him, Yerevan is trying "to take advantage of a situation where the West is showing a strong interest in boosting cooperation, including in the security sphere."

"However, reckless decisions that would give Westerners full access to national databases, or information that is sensitive to the country’s security, not only pose a threat to the state’s sovereignty, but may also render a return to joint efforts to build a common defense space with Russia and other CSTO allies impossible for objective reasons," the senior Russian diplomat stressed.

That said, the most prudent thing for Armenia would be to return to full-fledged participation in the CSTO, as this would mostly meet the interests of the Armenian people and help maintain peace and stability across the South Caucasus, Galuzin insisted. "Today, there are no workable alternatives to the CSTO as a mechanism for ensuring Armenia’s security," he maintained.

The West benefits from simmering tensions in the post-Soviet space as it is seeking to weaken Russia which, in fact, "remains the central guarantor of security here," Galuzin concluded.