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Armenian politician praises Putin’s proposed CIS revival

By M. Alkhazashvili

(Translated by Diana Dundua)
Wednesday, December 5
Aram Sarkisian, head of the Armenian Democratic Party, has praised Russian President Vladimir Putin’s recent pledge to reinvigorate the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) as a geopolitical unit, according to the news agency Regnum.

“Armenia would be part of this geopolitical unit. The key components of the north–south alliance would be Armenia, Russia, and Iran,” Sarkisian said. He also lauded the Russian president’s comments that the post-Soviet space is not a “chessboard” for geopolitical games.

Putin was apparently referring to NATO expansion—which Georgia is hoping to be part of—and the proposed US missile defense system that could see ten missile “interceptors” installed in Poland.

“The post-Soviet space on which the CIS was based should have become a partner of Europe, but plans have changed,” Sarkisian said, adding that the West’s actions were “an attempt to separate Russia from the post-Soviet space and weaken its influence [there].”