By Lt. Gen. Hayk Kotanjian
Special to the Mirror-Spectator
Given the growing threat of the ouster of Russia from the South Caucasus, I would like to focus on large-scale and at the same time practically realizable possibilities of overcoming existential threats towards the Republic of Armenia and the Republic of Artsakh.
Under current conditions, the realization of the projects elaborated by the Armenian Institute for National Strategic Studies (INSS) of the Armenian Ministry of Defense in 2016-2017, which were prepared taking into account the allied interaction between the Russian Federation and the Republic of Armenia — a relationship which has no alternative — has a special significance.
Armenia, using the advantages of the US – Russia “restart,” enjoyed the status of a participant at the intersection of the security interests of the Russian Federation and the US, through the strategic scientific-expert platform operating in Yerevan. Armenia’s INSS, as a sister organization of the National Defense University of the US, acquired the privilege of continuously updating the strategic consulting tools of the top leadership of partner and ally states for a 20-25-year perspective. In particular, our INSS was conceived as a state think tank unique in the entire post-Soviet space with continuously innovative research and expert tools in the system of building bridges between the strategic interests of the Russian Federation and the US in the South Caucasus.
I would like to present two projects elaborated respectively 5 and 6 years ago for a medium-term perspective of 20-25 years. The projects were reviewed at the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) Expert Research Council under the chairmanship of Colonel General, Ambassador Nikolay Bordyuzha, at the MGIMO University, Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) of the Russian Federation, China Institute of International Strategic Studies, MFA of the People’s Republic of China, and Kennedy School of Government of the Harvard University.
