APC Assesses Risks of Armenia's Exit from the Organization

The Secretary General of the CIS, Sergey Lebedev, stated that he does not see risks for Armenia to exit the Organization. He noted, 'On the other hand, we see enormous pressure from the West on our Armenian partners, which in some cases urges them to adopt an anti-Russian stance or cease cooperation within the framework of the CIS. It is with great regret that I note Armenia's recent absence from many CIS conferences. In my opinion, this is bad for the CIS. But many experts admit that this is also detrimental to Armenia.'

The Secretary General concluded: 'Countries that act in the opposite direction are harming themselves.'

Earlier, Russian Deputy Prime Minister Alexey Overchuk stated that, from an economic perspective, Armenia is interested in developing ties with Russia. According to him, trade and economic contacts between the states are developing very intensively, with a significant increase in trade turnover amounting to $3.7 billion (323 billion rubles).