Bolton: “We Have Success with Russia when both Sides are Straightforward about what Their National Interests are”

During his visit to Yerevan, the presidential adviser spoke about the prospects for relations with Armenia and his recent meeting with Putin. U.S. national security adviser John Bolton during his visit to Armenia met with the country’s prime minister. The parities talked obviously a lot about Nagorno-Karabakh,  about the Minsk process and the important role of the U.S.’s co-chair, about Russia, Turkey, Iran, Georgia. “I stressed to the Prime Minister that the Trump Administration considered the U.S. relations with Armenia to be of very high priority”, said Bolton in the Interview with Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty. According to his words, they talked specifically about the prospect of increased American direct investment in Armenia. Bolton also reminded about very strong Armenian community in U.S. Answering a question about security prospects in the region, Bolton reminded that  U.S. Congress has imposed on the United States in terms of sales to Azerbaijan and Armenia because of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, but there are exceptions to that. As I said to the Prime Minister, if it’s a question of buying Russian military equipment versus buying U.S. military equipment, we’d prefer the latter. We think our equipment is better than the Russians’ anyway. So we want to look at this possibility. I think it increases Armenia’s options when it’s not entirely dependent on one major power. I understand the geographical situation and the historical antecedents to all this, but I think this is a time to be optimistic that Armenia can emerge more on the world stage. The U.S. considers the South Caucuses a very important area strategically”. Answering the question about Armenia’s relations with neighboring countries, Bolton said that a key factor to open the Armenian-Azerbaijani border and Turkish border is to find a mutually satisfactory agreement to the Nagorno-Karabakh issue.  He also noted the Iranian border as a significant issue because U.S. want to put maximum pressure on Iran because it has not given up the pursue of nuclear weapons. In an interview, Bolton also spoke about a recent meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin. “Ambassador Bolton: We discussed a whole range of issues. It was a follow-up to the meeting of President Trump with President Putin in Helsinki”. According to him, an hour and a half discussion was very professional. “President Putin is himself an expert on arms control, so we had a long discussion about the INF Treaty and the reasons for American withdrawal that President Trump articulated. We talked about other arms control agreements, the strategic relationship between the two countries. We covered several aspects of the conflicts in the Middle East, Iran, and the nuclear weapons program in North Korea” – told Bolton. “I think these are the kinds of things that are helpful because I am convinced that Russia approaches foreign policy on the basis of its national interests, and I think we have success with Russia when both sides are straightforward about what their national interests are. Sometimes we’re simply not going to be able to reach agreement but other times as we talk about some of these issues, we can, he added. Bolton expressed hope that the next meeting between the two presidents might come in Paris at the time of the Armistice Day Parade, there are other opportunities. “I extended President Trump’s invitation to President Putin to visit Washington after the first of the year”, he added. As for the role of American overseas broadcast in the modern world, Bolton stressed, that critical mission of the U.S. media is to cover all sides of the issue.  It’s in the spirit of the American media. And I think that’s the way we are as a country and I think that shows to people around the world that we are not afraid of discussion and debate but we are determined to oppose propaganda”. Source: golos-ameriki.ru