NATO Partners Should Independently Determine the Level of Cooperation with the Alliance, Says Organization Representative

NATO partners should independently decide on the level of their cooperation with the alliance. This was stated to Izvestia by a representative of the organization while commenting on the cooperation with Armenia.

The representative added that NATO is currently not considering the possibility of expanding the organization at Armenia’s expense, and Yerevan has not submitted an application for membership in the organization.

“No official request has been received from Armenia to join the alliance. This was not an issue from our perspective, as there has been longstanding cooperation with partner countries that do not aspire to join a military alliance,” the official representative stated.

The discussion pertains to military cooperation of the North Atlantic alliance with third countries. Among those countries is Armenia, which joined the program back in 1994.

NATO also commented on the statement made by Gunter Fellinger, head of the European Committee for NATO Expansion, urging Armenia to join the alliance. “Mr. Fellinger has no official connection to NATO. He is not a staff member of NATO, and his opinions and views are his own and do not reflect the alliance’s position. The European Committee for NATO Expansion, regardless of its name, is not a body of the committee or the alliance,” the Izvestia interlocutor explained.

The representative emphasized that the alliance's partners should independently determine the level of their relations with NATO.

On September 6, the Armenian Ministry of Defense announced that joint Eagle Partner 2023 military exercises with the U.S. would be held in Armenia from September 11 to 20. Dmitry Peskov, the press secretary of the Russian president, stated that the holding of exercises by the U.S. and Armenia does not contribute to the stabilization of the situation in the region. He added that Russia continues to fulfill its functions as a guarantor of security and is also engaged in consistent and constructive work with both Yerevan and Baku.