ASTANA, October 4. /TASS/. The West is seeking to deploy its "peacekeeping" troops from NATO countries to Transcaucasia ostensibly to help normalize relations between Yerevan and Baku, Director of the Russian Federal Security Service (FSB) Alexander Bortnikov said at a meeting of the Council of Heads of National Security Enforcement Agencies and Special Services of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) currently taking place in Astana.

"The Americans and Europeans clearly are not interested in stability in Transcaucasia. By persuading Yerevan to protract talks with Baku, the West is trying to take the lead in normalizing relations between Azerbaijan and Armenia as it is looking to deploy its own 'peacekeeping' troops in the region, de jure under the UN aegis and de facto under that of NATO," he warned.

The FSB chief pointed at intelligence being conducted for a specific NATO country against "Russia and our partners" by an "independent" mission of EU civil observers on the border between Armenia and Azerbaijan.

Also, he continued, "the West is pushing for an Armenian exit from the CSTO (Collective Security Treaty Organization - TASS) which will make Yerevan more dependent on the North Atlantic Alliance in its relations with Baku further down the road."

Taking hold of Transcaucasia, Bortnikov insisted, would not contribute to stability in the region, given NATO’s "mediatory" efforts across the globe. "Judging from our joint experience with the United States and its allies in an array of spheres, we can say with certainty that what Western partners demand from others, they themselves do not fulfill and never intend to," he concluded.