Armenia Faces Challenges Not Only with Russia but Also with NATO: 'Hraparak'

It turns out that the authorities of Armenia are facing issues not only with Russia but also with the EU and NATO. "The problems in relations with NATO date back to last year. Armenia cooperates with NATO under the Individual Partnership Action Plan (IPAP), which was signed in 2005 and needs to be renewed every two years. The last renewal was signed in 2017 during Serzh Sargsyan's visit to Brussels. Since 2019, there has been no agreement between NATO and Armenia, meaning there is a legal basis missing for the relations. To resolve this issue, NATO's Special Representative for the Caucasus and Central Asia, James Appathurai, was in Armenia on March 11-12, 2019, where he met with various officials, including Armen Sarkissian, Zohrab Mnatsakanyan, and David Tonoyan, but the Prime Minister did not meet with him, and no progress was made," said our source.

Why was that? Was it fear of Russia or some other reason? "I would find it difficult to say. Last year, there might have been some concerns about Russia, especially considering NATO's dissatisfaction with sending troops to Syria, but NATO was trying to obtain a new document. The reason seems to stem from the irresponsible approach of the authorities," the newspaper writes.

Read the full article in today's issue of the newspaper.