Maria Zakharova, the spokesperson of the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA), responded to reports in the Azerbaijani media about the need to deepen cooperation with NATO, and touched upon Armenia.

“Earlier, information was disseminated in the Azerbaijani media that it is indispensable to deepen cooperation with NATO. How would you comment on this situation?” a reporter asked Zakharova at Wednesday’s press briefing.

The Russian MFA spokeswoman responded as follows: “You know that NATO, as an alliance, or its individual member states, have been trying to strengthen themselves in the South Caucasus for a long time. The objective of the alliance, I believe, is obvious. We have repeatedly talked about it, that the main objective is to use the potential of the countries of the region and resources in the interests of the collective West, especially in terms of geopolitical confrontation with our country. Here is a comprehensive approach; that is, they do not separate one from the other.”

According to Zakharova, the West “does not need equal relations in the post-Soviet space.”

“They need to take resources, turn countries against each other, inflame everything, and behave simply as typical colonialists, as typical enslavers, as typical imperialists. We hope that the countries of the region, including Azerbaijan and Armenia, are aware of the risks of deepening of cooperation with NATO because it truly contains risks, and the situation is getting worse. And everyone knows how it ends. Wherever the North Atlantic Alliance appears, confrontation reigns, military tension grows, the words ‘peace,’ ‘stability,’ normality’ are forgotten. Instead, a new Western-imposed normality comes. And then everything else, which we have seen many times,” added the Russian MFA spox.