The future of the South Caucasus must be determined by the countries for which this region is a common home, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of Russia Mikhail Galuzin said in an interview with the Izvestia newspaper, Report informs.

“We consider it counterproductive to drag non-regional forces, ‘Westerners’, into the region, which, unfortunately, official Yerevan has been inclined to do lately. We see that in not a single country or region where the United States and its satellites from the European Union and NATO intervened, did stability and sustainable peace occur. There was only destruction of statehood, chaos and destabilization. There are plenty of examples - the Balkans, Iraq, Libya, Syria,” said the deputy minister.

Galuzin emphasized that the interests of the West in the South Caucasus region are not about helping Armenia normalize relations with Azerbaijan and achieve lasting peace and stability, but alienating Russia from the process and creating more one source of tension.

“We still hope that the sooner Yerevan overcomes its doubts regarding the CSTO and returns to constructive, productive and meaningful discussions at the political and expert levels of the issues on the agenda of this organization, the better,” added the deputy minister.