Political analyst: Russia, Iran to react to EU mission’s transformation in Armenia into NATO mission

Russian political analyst Stanislav Tarasov has said that the mission, which was presented as a civilian EU mission, is changing its format.

“At first glance, this is only the participation of a state supporting this mission in an observation mission. Canada is one of the key NATO member states, so this is not a random event,” Tarasov told the Armenian media, Caliber.Az reports.

“The mission, which was presented as a civilian EU mission, is changing its format. This is a systemic event, because a member state of the NATO military command structure is joining it. These processes were resolved long ago. It was not a secret to anyone, especially to Russia,” he said.

“Spokesperson for the Russian Foreign Ministry Maria Zakharova said a few weeks ago that the mission was actually turning into a NATO mission. Of course, Russia characterised this as an extremist assessment, propaganda, etc. In fact, everything is simple. I think that Canada will not be the only country,” he noted.

The political analyst stressed that these issues were thoroughly discussed during NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg’s visit to Armenia.

“The NATO observers under the guise of civilian observers entered the region. I think that not only Russia, but also Iran will respond because Iran cannot perceive such developments near its territory,” Tarasov added.