YEREVAN, March 20. /TASS/. The West is turning Armenia into a pawn, as a result of which the country is moving away from its strategic ally - Russia - and turning into a testing ground for confrontation between geopolitical centers, Secretary of the opposition parliamentary faction "I have the Honor" Tigran Abrahamyan commented on the visit of NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg to Yerevan and his statement that "the alliance welcomes Armenia’s more independent foreign policy" in an interview with TASS.

"Armenia has had various formats of cooperation with NATO in recent decades, but what is happening now should be viewed more in the context of the deterioration of Armenia-Russia relations and hopping on the Western train, at least at the level of statements. It is regrettable to state that Armenia is following this path not to ensure its state interests, but to enter into the West-Russia conflict, the grave consequence of which is that we have turned into a testing ground. Everyone will benefit from this process, including Turkey and Azerbaijan, but our country will lose," Abrahamyan said.

He believes that cooperation between the Armenian authorities and NATO cannot compare with working with the CSTO or Russia, since "NATO does not offer Yerevan anything that could compare with the potential of Russia's proposals, regardless of how they were implemented or remained on paper." "If someone thinks that the EU or NATO are offering us the opportunity to become a member of these structures, they are deeply mistaken. In fact, Armenia voluntarily becomes a pawn, which, in fact, is a path to self-destruction for Armenia. This does not even bring rapprochement with NATO and the West, on the contrary, Armenia becomes a bargaining chip," the source added.

Deja vu

Another Armenian security expert, Army Reserve Colonel Hayk Naapetyan, agrees with Abrahamyan's assessments. "Now we live in reality, where our strategic ally, the Russian Federation, is actually at war with NATO in Ukraine. At the moment, the US CIA program is being implemented, according to which, in order to try to conquer Russia, the outskirts of Russia must be fully prepared for war with Russia," he said.

According to him, this is happening in Ukraine, and similar plans are being hatched in the West with regard to the South Caucasus and Central Asia. According to Naapetyan, in the West's plan, "all post-Soviet republics should be ready to open a front against Russia."

Speaking about the prospects for cooperation between NATO and Armenia, he expressed the opinion that the republic will be used "as a tool against Russia." He called possible options a further escalation of the Azerbaijani-Armenian conflict and the preparation in the South Caucasus of a "united army against Russia, which will be led by officers of the Turkish army." "A similar experiment took place a hundred years ago in the form of the Transcaucasian Seim, which was led by the British at that time. It didn't work out, now they are repeating the experiment," Naapetyan added. In his opinion, in the current situation, "the current Armenian authorities are implementing the plans of NATO and the West, and not serving their own country.".