IZHEVSK, April 24. /TASS/. European Union countries are seeking to turn Armenia into their outpost, but Yerevan should not expect real assistance from the EU, Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova told a news briefing.

"We see how the European Union, having embarked on a course of militarization to counter the mythical Russian threat, is striving to turn Armenia into its outpost, and this all stands in stark contrast to Yerevan's official policy of not serving as a bargaining chip in the interests of third countries. Armenia's agreement to the deployment of a new mission, as the EU puts it, on its territory is apparently linked to the fact that the country's leadership hopes to use it to accelerate its progress along the European path. European advisors are unlikely to be able to mitigate the damage to the national economy and the well-being of the population in the event of Yerevan's reorientation not toward EU membership, but simply toward the EU and its demands. In this case, there will be no real help from them, just as there is no real help for other countries to which they constantly promise quick accession, but in fact only pump out resources or use these states for their own political purposes," Zakharova noted.

She pointed out that, at the same time, "many states are stalling" on their path to EU accession, despite having already "exceeded everything they were told."

"We simply shouldn't confuse the path to the European Union in the form of EU membership with the European path. It seems to me that it's not the path to the EU that's being offered to Armenia, or to Moldova, but rather a certain European path, and that's definitely not the way to go," she pointed out. "We hope that our Armenian allies and friends will not allow the new mission to be used to interfere in their internal affairs and draw Yerevan into Western geopolitical games, which would involve severing friendly ties with our country and joining Brussels in its anti-Russian policies," she concluded.