Yerevan /Mediamax/. Russian Defense Minister Sergey Shoygu said today that “the West is trying in every possible way to intervene in the situation around Nagorno-Karabakh and increase its presence in the region.”

“As for the situation in the Caucasus region, it is largely determined by the degree of settlement of the Armenian-Azerbaijani conflict. The Russian peacekeeping troops are currently ensuring the security in Nagorno-Karabakh. However, the West is trying to intervene in the situation in every possible way, to increase its presence and discredit the policy of the peacekeeping mission,” he said at the meeting of the Council of Defense Ministers of the CSTO member countries, according to TASS.

Shoygu said that the West aims “to push Russia out of the South Caucasus and not to ensure the security and prosperity of the region in the long term.”

“An example of this is the so-called civilian mission of the European Union in Armenia, which includes military personnel and intelligence officers. I think there is no need to explain what they actually do.

In this regard, we consider it necessary to continue the work on sending a CSTO mission to the region,” the Russian defense minister said.