Armenia not planning to join NATO - FM

YEREVAN. April 1 (Interfax) - Armenia is not planning to join NATO, Armenian Foreign Minister Ararat Mirzoyan said.

"If we are talking about the intention to enter into NATO, then no. The issue is not on Armenia's current agenda," Mirzoyan said in an interview with the TN television channel.

Armenia views the United States and Europe as its primary partners, Mirzoyan said. "We are a democracy and we wish to strengthen democratic institutions. For instance, we can see that the United States and the European Union are the primary partners," he said.

"We are deepening economic and political relations with Brussels and Washington. I would not call this a shift, as we seek to provide our security and development on the democratic track," Mirzoyan said.

He admitted problems in relations with Moscow. "We have economic relations, bilateral trade and various forms of cooperation with Russia, and we also maintain good relations in the field of security. But it is also true that we think differently nowadays, in simple words, we do not speak the same language. It is impossible to hide problems in relations with Russia," Mirzoyan said.