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Russian, Armenian FMs Discuss Ukraine Crisis


RUSSIA -- Armenian Foreign Minister Ararat Mirzoyan (left) meets with his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov in Moscow, August 31, 2021
RUSSIA -- Armenian Foreign Minister Ararat Mirzoyan (left) meets with his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov in Moscow, August 31, 2021

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and his Armenian counterpart Ararat Mirzoyan discussed Russia’s continuing standoff with the West over Ukraine in a phone call on Tuesday.

The Russian Foreign Ministry said the two men engaged in a “detailed exchange of views” regarding “ongoing negotiations on security guarantees” demanded by Moscow from the United States and other Western powers.

“The importance of consistently upholding the principles of equal and indivisible security in the Euro-Atlantic region was emphasized,” read a statement released by the ministry.

From Moscow’s perspective, “indivisible security” means that NATO must pledge not to admit Ukraine and to scale back its military presence near Russia’s borders. The U.S. and its NATO allies have rejected these demands amid growing fears of an imminent Russian attack on Ukraine.

Russia has amassed more than 100,000 troops along the Ukrainian border but denies planning to invade the former Soviet republic.

Armenia, which has close political, military and economic ties with Russia, has not publicly taken sides in the conflict.

The Armenian Foreign Ministry said on Monday that it is “closely monitoring developments in Ukraine.” It also indicated that Yerevan is not planning to evacuate Armenian diplomatic missions there.

Incidentally, the official Armenian readout of Mirzoyan’s call with Lavrov made no explicit mention of the Russia-Ukraine conflict. It said they discussed the implementation of Armenian-Azerbaijani agreements brokered by Moscow and Armenia’s normalization talks with Turkey.

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