Remarks by President Serzh Sargsyan at unofficial meeting with Presidents of Russia, Belarus, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan in Moscow

Honorable Vladimir Vladimirovich,
Respected colleagues, friends,

At the outset, I would like to express sincere gratitude to the President of Russia for his invitation to visit Moscow on the eve of Victory Day’s celebration, a holiday which is equally honored by us and unites all of us.

We represent the states whose peoples suffered the greatest losses during the Great Patriotic War and greatly contributed to achieving the great victory. Our common duty is to carefully preserve its legacy and do all the best in order for countries and peoples to take lessons from World War II and prevent new threats.

I also express my appreciation for giving us an opportunity to discuss the most acute issues of common concern in an unofficial atmosphere.

The entire work being implemented both at bilateral levels and in the format of regional organizations, especially in the framework of the CSTO is directed to raising our countries’ defense capacity, as well as the fighting ability and effectiveness of the collective security system. That work is carried out taking into consideration the dynamics of the international situation.

I am confident that the topic of promoting the coordination of the member-states’ actions on security and foreign policy issues under the rapidly changing conditions both at global and regional levels becomes vital. That is why we set up necessary mechanisms at the CSTO. Moreover, Armenia is guided by the fundamental necessity of combining the positions vital for the CSTO member-states at the time of their discussion at international and regional organizations.

That approach has underlay our position since the events of August 2008 during votes held at multifarious organizations. We clearly knew that it was on one hand, a matter of our allied relations and on the other hand, about a neighbor country where a few hundred thousand of our compatriots lived and through the territory of which the 75 percent of Armenia’s total imports was carried out. That practice has remained the same till now during the votes on the issue of the Ukrainian crises held both at the UN and the Council of Europe. I think that we should make clear arrangements for coordinating the actions concerning our foreign policy because there is something strange about it.

Armenia plainly declared that it considered Crimea’s referendum as another example of the exercise of peoples’ right to self-determination through expression of free will. Nevertheless, we are very concerned about the increase of violence in Ukraine, including the events of Odessa, Kramatorsk, Slavyansk and other regions. We are troubled about the situation also because there are more than half a million Armenians living there.

I am very sorry that those events have resulted in human losses. We strongly believe that the crisis should be settled exceptionally through peaceful means, broad dialogues, first of all among the public, as well as through negotiations in compliance with the UN Charter and international law, including the arrangements made on April 17 in Geneva.

Vladimir Vladimirovich, I hope that today, in an unofficial atmosphere, you will present us your vision of the developments in Ukraine. The analysis of those developments shows that neglecting the fundamental norms of international law, substituting dialogue with use of force and suppressing peoples’ right to self-determination entail in disastrous consequences.

From now on, we should make joint efforts at reducing risks for member-states, ensuring regional stability and security grounding first of all on the Main Directions of Promoting Military Cooperation until 2020. We should pay special attention to upgrading the collective rapid reaction forces and the issues of enhancing the joint abilities to respond to contemporary challenges and threats. And here the conduct of periodic military exercises – Nelegal, Kanal and Proxy operations – as well as the unexpected control of troops’ fighting ability level and their capacity of mobility and comparability are important. In this regard, I would like to note that in September 2015 we are looking to conduct military exercises of the CSTO peace-keeping forces in the territory of the Republic of Armenia called Inviolable Friendship 2015 which I am sure will be conducted at the highest level.

We consider that it is important to accelerate the process of equipping the CSTO collective rapid reaction forces with modern arms and equipment and to regulate the issues of military equipment and load transition, as well as personnel transportation through the territory of third countries.

This year from 1-2 July, an international strategic conference on security issues will be held in Yerevan jointly with the CSTO secretariat on the topic the Integration of National and Regional Peace-Keeping Potential in Peaceful Operations' Global System Based on UN Principles and Standards. This is the first conference of this type and I ask my colleagues to support the initiative and instruct the relevant structures of the participating states to ensure a high level of participation.

At Sochi's session of the Collective Security Council we thoroughly touched upon the situation in Syria. We discussed possible development scenarios in Afghanistan, the Middle East in general and especially in Syria. Presently, all of this has more urgent character. I mean the externally designed operation against Kesab's peaceful population.

Taking an opportunity, I would like to present my appreciation to the CSTO member-states for their position on Syrian Armenian-populated Kesab's issue which was reflected in the joint declaration adopted by the foreign ministers of the CSTO member-states on April 3 2014. Here Russia's position should be underlined, Vladimir Vladimirovich, which as the permanent member of the UN SC, is actively engaged in regulating the Syrian crisis at various levels, while the RF Ministry of Foreign Affairs has made statements on supporting the Armenians of Kesab on many occasions.

Thank you.