Russia's interests in the South Caucasus are unshakable, and the West will not succeed in replacing Moscow with itself, despite "beautiful words." Mikhail Kalugin, Director of the Fourth CIS Department of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) of Russia, stated this in an interview with TASS.

"I would like to emphasize: the West, despite its beautiful words, cannot and will not be able to replace Russia in the South Caucasus in the foreseeable future, neither in the security sphere nor in the economy. Our interests in the region are unshakable," Kalugin said.