MOSCOW, July 3. /TASS/. The West wants to break Azerbaijan’s and Armenia’s cooperation with Russia as it invites those countries to the NATO summit, Deputy Director of the Russian Foreign Ministry's Information and Press Department Andrey Nastasin said, adding that by forcing its recipes in Caucasus the West leads to new dividing lines appearing in the region.
"Another example of the Americans attempting to extend their destructive influence to all regions of the world. With absolute indulgence of weak-willed satellites in Europe, Washington sets the task of breaking our friends, neighbors from cooperation with Russia," he told a briefing when asked a respective question.
"Forcing their recipes, which are far from understanding the specifics of the region, by Euroatlantists leads to new dividing lines appearing in the South Caucasus and it will have devastating consequences not only for the region, but for security across Eurasia overall. We assume that Baku and Yerevan perfectly understand it," the diplomat said.
Moreover, Nastasin noted that Moscow sees how aggressively NATO seeks to promote its approaches to regional issues. "As a reminder, such proactivity of the alliance has led to disastrous results many times," he said, adding that "such experience of ruining nationhood is not relevant in the South Caucasus and anywhere in the world."
"We are convinced that stability and security in the South Caucasus can and should be ensured by the countries of the region themselves within the principle of regional responsibility," the diplomat concluded.
Washington will host NATO’s jubilee summit marking the 75th anniversary of the North Atlantic Treaty of 1949 on July 9-11, 2024. The summit will focus on establishing a new structure for helping Ukraine and building 'a bridge to NATO' for Ukraine. Representatives of Azerbaijan, Armenia, Georgia, Israel, Arab countries and partners of NATO in the Indo-Pacific region have been invited to the meeting of NATO members’ heads.