The West is attempting in every possible way to intervene in the situation created around Nagorno-Karabakh. Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu stated this at the meeting—in Belarusian capital Minsk—of the Council of Defense Ministers of the CSTO member countries, RIA Novosti reports.

"As for the situation in the Caucasus region, it is mainly determined by the degree of settlement of the Armenian-Azerbaijani conflict. Now the security in Nagorno-Karabakh is provided by the Russian peacekeeping contingent. However, the West is attempting in every possible way to intervene in the situation, increase its presence [there], and discredit the Russian peacekeeping policy," Shoigu said.

According to him, the important thing for the West is "to push Russia out of the South Caucasus, not to ensure the security and prosperity of the region in the long term."

"An example of this is the so-called ‘civilian mission’ of the European Union in Armenia, which includes servicemen and employees of special services. I believe there is no need to explain what they actually do [in Armenia]," Shoigu said.

"In this regard, we consider it necessary to continue the work on the matter of sending a CSTO mission to the region," the Russian defense minister emphasized.