News - Stano: If Armenia's sovereignty is not respected, there will be consequences for whomever violates this

I think it's logical that every country takes steps, sovereign independent steps to protect it. That means also beefing up its military and acquiring military assistance from wherever they decide. This was stated by Peter Stano, Lead Spokesperson for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy of the European Commission of the European Union (EU), in an interview with Armenpress—and referring to the fact that Azerbaijan criticizes the arming of Armenia, while it has a three times larger military budget and the ammunition shipments do not stop landing at the Baku airport. "So, countries are receiving military support from partners, from markets, you know. They might get it depending on their relations. This is the right of every country that is independent and sovereign, and no one has any right to meddle into it as long as all the international laws and agreements are being met," he said. Regarding the statements about supporting Armenia, Stato noted: "The support or what the European Union has said in terms of supporting Armenia has nothing to do with arming Armenia. We just want to increase or support Armenia in strengthening its democratic institutions and its ability to protect itself against any kind of threats, I mean, we said very clearly that we stand very firmly by Armenia's independence, sovereignty and territorial integrity. This is one of the cornerstones not only of our relations with Armenia, but of international relations." He added that the sovereignty, independence, and territorial integrity of Armenia needs to be respected. "And if it will not be respected, there will be consequences for whomever violates this. This is a very clear position of the European Union. Secondly, our support to Armenia is for democratic institutions to help the country in its current situation to strengthen the democratic institutions and the ability, the resilience of the democratic institutions and not arming Armenia. So, anyone who is criticizing the European Union for what we are doing vis a vis Armenia should try to maybe reconsider twice and try to understand what we are doing and what we are saying, because in no way what we are doing with Armenia is directed against anyone else," added the European Commission’s chief spokesman for foreign affairs.