Armenian PM says CSTO actions run counter to country's national interests
YEREVAN, November 24. /ARKA/. The actions of the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) run counter to Armenia's national interests, Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan said. today
"We proceed from Armenia's national interests. The CSTO's actual actions or inactions do not reflect its obligations to Armenia. That is, the CSTO's actions do not correspond to Armenia's interests, and we are raising this issue," Pashinyan said today in an online questions and answers session with the citizens.
He noted that Armenia wants to do its best to understand the CSTO and convey its position to the organization. According to him, if this cannot be achieved, the public will have even more questions regarding Armenia's membership in this organization, "which does not give Armenia anything or does not give the minimum that would make it continue the membership, but causes additional risks for the country's security system."
Pashinyan said Armenia had tried to diversify arms supplies before, but could not do so because it was denied because of its CSTO membership.
Armenian Foreign Minister Ararat Mirzoyan and Defense Minister Suren Papikyan refused to participate in a joint meeting of the CSTO foreign and defense ministers, scheduled for November 22 in Belarusian capital Minsk.
Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan neither traveled to Minsk for the CSTO summit. Earlier, Pashinyan said in an interview with The Wall Street Journal that Azerbaijan's aggressive actions and inaction of the CSTO forced Armenia to seek to diversify its relations in the security area.
Earlier this year, Pashinyan told a press conference that Armenia would not host CSTO military exercises in 2023, saying Armenia expected the Russia-led military pact to make a clear-cut assessment of Azerbaijan’s continued occupation of chunks of Armenia’s sovereign territories. Pashinyan said Armenia wanted to 'understand what the area of the CSTO’s responsibility is.”
In another rift between Armenia and CSTO Yerevan chose not to fill its quota for the CSTO Deputy Secretary General. Armenia also recalled its ambassador from the military alliance and has not appointed a replacement yet. -0-
