Susanna Petrosyan, Yerevan. Exclusively to Vestnik Kavkaza
Experts’ attitude to the recent visit to Armenia by the special envoy of NATO Secretary General in the South Caucasus and Central Asia, James Appathurai was ambiguous. Some of them have pessimistic views on the further cooperation between Armenia and NATO, since President Serge Sargsyan stated on Armenia’s intention to join the Customs Union. According to them, the EU and NATO try to put Armenia aside and actually reject it. The other group of experts is sure that the struggle for the region between the leading political centers of the world is still acute, and Armenia is not isolated. And Appathurai’s visit confirms this.
Appathurai expressed gratitude to the authorities in Armenia for their contribution to the peacemaking processes in Kosovo and Afghanistan, saying that Armenia was a member of the international community. He confirmed NATO's desire to encourage cooperation between Armenia and NATO in the sphere of reforms. NATO helps Armenia with military education and meet high international standards; with struggling against corruption in the sphere of purchases for Armed Forces; with the development of a new defense strategy of Armenia. However, it is not clear how NATO can help with development of the defense strategy, if its representatives don’t know all necessary details.
According to the former defense minister of Armenia Vagarshak Arutyunyan, in this case it can mean only methodological support because crucial issues of elimination of threats by the Armenian army and the CSTO have already been defined by the National Security Strategy.
Very notable was Appathurai’s statement that Armenia’s membership in CSTO and its desire to join the CU didn’t prevent its cooperation with NATO which didn’t oppose the fact that Armenia chose Russia as a guarantor of its security.
“Cooperation between Armenia and NATO doesn’t prevent cooperation between Armenia and Russia, or the CSTO. The top authorities of either CSTO or NATO have always stated that they see no contradiction in this case. Armenia has never tried to play on contradictions between military and political alliances operating in the region; it has always tried to combine cooperation with them,” the deputy head of the institute “The Caucasus”, Sergey Minasyan says.
Cooperation between Armenia and NATO positively influences the training of Armenian soldiers. Together with NATO Armenia opened a mine clearance center where combat engineers are trained; NATO helps Armenia with modernization of military education infrastructure. According to some information, they establish training classes for officers and tutors of Vazgen Sargsyan Military Institute and Monte Melkonyan Military School. However, the problem of security is still priority for Armenia. At the same time, NATO has no liabilities to Armenia in the sphere of security guarantees. The frameworks of IPAP (Individual Partnership Action Plan) do not require military aide, so the program cannot be an alternative to the Collective Security Treaty which requires clear liabilities toward providing Armenia’s security. Moreover, NATO representatives have many times stated that they have no intention to provide Armenia’s security.
Armenia has a three-level security system which is based on three documents. The first is the treaty between Armenia and Russia of 1997 On Friendship and Cooperation. The second is the treaty on the Russian military base situated in Armenia; it says that Russia is obliged to provide Armenia’s security and provide modern military machineries to Armenia. The third document is the CSTO. So, the only guarantor of Armenia’s security is Russia.
