Armenia concerned about Russian-Georgian crisis

"Armenia has always been and remains concerned about the tense Russian-Georgian relations," said Foreign Minister Vartan. "We are all the more concerned now because that tension is rising day by day. We are closely following the developments."

Oskanian insisted that Armenia has played no part in the spy scandal despite Georgian allegations that the arrested Russians acted on orders from a senior GRU agent based in Yerevan. "True, Armenia's name has been mentioned, but that does not concern Armenia," he said.

"We have to wait and see further developments. We are primarily concerned about the escalation and -- we hope things won't get to that point -- break-up of Russian-Georgian relations," he added.

Oskanian's concerns were echoed by other Armenian politicians who fear that the spy scandal might flare up into a military Georgian-Russian confrontation fraught with unpredictable consequences for Armenia. "I fear that a war might break out soon," said Aram Karapetian, a pro-Russian opposition leader.

Hamlet Harutiunian, a parliament deputy from the governing Republican Party of Armenia, saw a "fifty-fifty chance" of such war. Both he and Karapetian agreed that Yerevan should avoid taking sides in the dispute. RFE/RL