Diplomat: Russia hopes for renewed CSTO cooperation with Armenia

Spokesperson for the Russian Foreign Ministry Maria Zakharova has said that Russia expects that its partnership with Armenia within the Collective Security Treaty Organisation (CSTO) will be fully resumed. 

She made these remarks during a weekly briefing, Caliber.Az reports via Russian media.

"Armenia is de jure a full member of the CSTO, which remains the only viable mechanism for ensuring peace and stability in the South Caucasus. Armenia retains all corresponding rights and obligations. We expect that, in the interest of the future security of our friendly country and the entire region, our partnership with Armenia within the CSTO will be fully resumed," the spokesperson said.

She noted that Russia affirms that at this stage, Armenia may resume full-scale cooperation within the CSTO.

"We expect that our Armenian partners, having overcome their doubts, will resume mutually beneficial cooperation," Zakharova said.  

Moreover, she noted that Russia is ready to conduct a prisoner exchange with Ukraine as soon as possible.

"We are interested in a constructive dialogue and focused on the swift return of prisoners of war. We are ready to carry out the exchange of 630 military personnel immediately and to begin organisational preparation for further exchanges," the diplomat said.

Thus, the spokesperson added that currently, Russia does not have any evidence indicating Ukraine's intention to acquire nuclear weapons. 

Zakharova emphasised that it is in the interests of "truly responsible states" to prevent Ukraine from obtaining nuclear weapons.

"I cannot say that we have any concrete evidence that we can share at this stage," the diplomat said. 

Zakharova noted that the majority of the international community understands the seriousness of the threat.

"The reckless actions of the Kyiv regime and its Western backers could bring the entire world to the brink of catastrophe," she stressed. 

Meanwhile, Zakharova noted that the Russian side has reviewed media reports regarding Greece's plans to transfer Russian S-300 surface-to-air missile systems to Armenia.

The diplomat reminded of the agreements dated October 30, 1995, and December 3, 2013, which prohibit Athens from re-exporting military equipment supplied by Moscow without its consent.  

"They clearly prohibit Greece from re-exporting military equipment supplied by us without Russia's consent. However, at this time, we have not received any requests from the Greek side," Zakharova said.

Earlier, the information was published on www.enikos.gr that Greece plans to transfer S-300 systems, as well as two other Russian-made systems, to Armenia.

According to the information, in exchange, Israeli-made systems are expected to be installed. The journalists claim that this is not only an initiative of Athens but also the result of cooperation with Paris. 

Zakharova also noted that developed countries did everything in their power to avoid being held accountable for financing climate goals in developing nations at the 29th session of the Conference of the Parties to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP29) in Baku.

"One of the methods employed by the West was an attempt to expand the group of donors by including major countries from the Global South. Shifting responsibility in this way would largely relieve former colonial powers from their obligations to the most climate-vulnerable nations, at the expense of countries that themselves suffered from colonialism in the past. This is exactly the form of neocolonialism we are talking about, which we do not agree with and will continue fighting," she said.

Earlier, on the sidelines of COP29, German Federal Minister for Foreign Affairs Annalena Baerbock made some provocative statements, including suggesting shifting the financial responsibility for climate funding from the EU onto other participants in the negotiations.

"I believe our Azerbaijani colleagues are fortunate that she didn't make a statement about the need for a full reversal on this issue. Everyone would have been wondering how to pull that off. So, it seems she restrained herself from making another foolish remark," Zakharova commented on Baerbock's statement.

By Naila Huseynova