Armenian PM will not attend CSTO meeting in Minsk

YEREVAN, November 14. /ARKA/. Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan has informed Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko that he will not be able to participate in the CSTO Collective Security Council meeting, scheduled for November 23 in Belarusian capital Minsk.

The Armenian government said Pashinyan expressed hope that his CSTO partners would understand this decision.

According to the press service of the government, the phone call between Pashinyan and Lukashenko was at the initiative of the Belarusian side.

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.

Asked whether Russia's military presence in Armenia was an asset or a liability, Nikol Pashinyan said,' At least at this moment I have already said that, unfortunately, we have not seen the advantages.'

Asked whether that meant that Armenia was planning to ask Russia to withdraw its military bases from Armenia Pashinyan said the Armenian government was not discussing such a question now. .0-