Armenian PM says return to CSTO has become impossible

YEREVAN, 4 December. /ARKA/. Armenia's return to the Collective Security Treaty Organisation (CSTO) is becoming increasingly difficult, if not impossible, Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan said on Wednesday.

During a governmental question-and-answer session in the National Assembly, the prime minister was asked to comment on Russian President Vladimir Putin's recent statement on Yerevan's further cooperation with the CSTO.

'We don't participate in the discussions and decision-making in the CSTO, but we don't veto them either, as we already consider ourselves outside the CSTO. Let them decide for themselves what they need,’ Pashinyan said.

Pashinyan is sure that Nagorno-Karabakh has nothing to do with it. He recalled that in 2021-2022 Armenia was subjected to Azerbaijani aggression, and official Yerevan discussed this situation with its CSTO allies: they stated that Armenia's borders are a red line for them.

'When the aggression occurred, we approached our CSTO partners, informing them that the red line had been crossed by Azerbaijan. But they claimed that Armenia's border was not delimited. We asked them where they thought those red lines were then? Where, according to the CSTO, is the border of Armenia? They didn't show us anything, after which I said that if the organisation doesn't know where Armenia's borders are, then the CSTO doesn't exist,’ the Armenian Prime Minister said.

It was for this reason, he said, that Armenia refused to sign the CSTO's final document in autumn 2022.

Putin said last week in Astana that Armenia's current attitude towards the CSTO is dictated by domestic political problems and the consequences of the Nagorno-Karabakh war. He added that the CSTO should not have fought for Armenia in Nagorno-Karabakh (as it belongs to Azerbaijan).-0-