BREAKING: Armenia asks West to replace CSTO
Details of Mirzoyan's closed meeting with MEPs

REGION  26 January 2023 - 16:45

During the hushed part of the meeting held between MEPs and Armenian Foreign Minister Ararat Mirzoyan during the latter's visit to Brussels on January 23-25, the Armenian side responded to various questions from MEPs.

Already known to us from previous publications, Estonian MP Marina Kaljurand asked Mirzoyan about the prospects of Armenia's withdrawal from the CSTO. By the way, given that Kaljurand (whose maiden name is Raevskaya) has ties with the Russian side, it is quite telling that it was she who asked the head of the Armenian Foreign Ministry such a sensitive question for the Kremlin.

But the answer given by the Armenian foreign minister was unexpectedly frank for everyone - both for the MEPs, for Kaljurand, and her Kremlin handlers. Thus, Mirzoyan stated that "anything is possible" (!), noting at the same time that Armenia cannot afford a vacuum in its security. Further, the Armenian foreign minister stressed that Yerevan is ready for any discussion on Armenia's withdrawal from the CSTO, thus making it clear that the replacement of the Russian security "umbrella" is possible in case of obtaining alternative security guarantees from the West. Concluding his thought, Mirzoyan stated that the EU observer mission "has already helped save lives" - which can be seen as another clear signal: continue in this vein, expand the mission and its mandate, and we will definitely leave the CSTO.

It is also noteworthy that Ararat Mirzoyan stated with no proof that Azerbaijan was selling "Russian gas", demanding the imposition of sanctions against Baku. In this case, we would like to remind both Mirzoyan and those in the EP, who listened to his speeches, that on January 10, during an interview with local TV channels President Ilham Aliyev gave a clear answer to the question about the reports in the foreign press saying that our country was allegedly buying Russian gas to re-export it to Europe and world markets. President Aliyev called such publications information manipulation.

"Even if you simply look at the volume of our exports, it is clear that this is out of the question. Yes, we used to buy gas from Russia, a long time ago, back when I worked for an oil company. And it was profitable. At that time we did not have enough of our own gas. So we were buying gas in order not to use masut for energy production, i.e. to get more profit. And of course, power plants running on masut pollute the environment. Today, all of our power plants are either gas-fired, water-fired, or partly renewable from other sources. But then we stopped buying gas from Russia, if I'm not mistaken it was in 2006 or 2007 because the price almost doubled. We stopped buying Russian gas. Almost 15 years had passed. Now we are talking about buying Russian gas in the amount of 1 billion cubic meters. The contract was signed at the end of last year. And in fact, we have not even received half of it yet. Why are we doing it? Our consumption is growing, the population is growing. So, only dilettantes or provocateurs can claim that we are buying Russian gas and re-selling. In this case, I think we face both of them," Aliyev said.

If we put aside the falsity of Mirzoyan's claims about the re-export of Russian gas by Azerbaijan and suggest that he himself really believes in this fake information, it appears that he openly supports the Western sanctions regime against Russia in behind-the-scenes conversations. Not very clever for a diplomat, although it is indeed difficult to call Mirzoyan a professional diplomat.

We understand that the publication of this information will be a surprise for the Armenian side - but it's time for them to get used to the fact that our eyes and ears are everywhere. Even in the most unexpected places.

Caliber.Az