Richard Giragosian considers Armenian President's refusal to attend NATO Summit to be a mistake

• Thursday, May 24, 21:52

Armenian Richard Giragosian, Director of the Regional Studies Center (RSC), an independent think tank in Yerevan, told ArmInfo that Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan's refusal to attend the NATO Summit in Chicago was a mistake.  

To recall, it was Serzh Sargsyan's second refusal to attend the NATO Summit held in Chicago on May 20- 21. The president explained his decision by the ineligibility of mentioning the topic of the Nagorno- Karabakh problem in the final declaration. 

"The Armenian president should have more able to defend Armenia's position in the Summit, and the language of the resolution that was adopted was not that bad, it was balanced between territorial integrity and self determination", the expert said.

When asked whether the Armenian President's refusal will have any impact on the relations of the sides, Giragosian said: "Armenia continues to deepen its ties with NATO, this was a mistake, but there should not be any implications".

Speaking about NATO-Russia opposition over the issue of anti-missile defense and about the possible role of the countries of the region, the expert said: "On the one hand the NATO expansion in this region is over, even Georgia no time soon will join NATO, in terms of missile defense systems, even that is a marginal issue, because neither Armenia nor Azerbaijan plays any serious role in missile defense".