CSTO says Armenia has not requested withdrawal from organization

YEREVAN, November 16. /ARKA/. Armenia has not formally requested withdrawal from the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO), Chief of the CSTO Joint Staff Anatoly Sidorov said.

"No official statements have been received from the Armenian leadership, including by the organization. No statements on Armenia's withdrawal from the Collective Security Treaty Organization have been made. No documents of the kind have been submitted, I have not personally seen any," Sidorov said at a press conference in Moscow on Thursday, according to Interfax news agency..

"There is no talk in the organization that the CSTO has lost interest in the Caucasus region, or that it is going to withdraw from Armenia,’ Sidorov said, adding that the leaders of the CSTO member states will find a way to solve the problems the Republic of Armenia is going through.

The CSTO includes Russia, Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan.

On November 14, the Armenian government reported that Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan would not attend the CSTO summit in Minsk, slated for November 23.

The CSTO summit is to be preceded by separate meetings of member states’ foreign and defense ministers.

On Wednesday Pashinyan said Armenia is looking for other security partners, adding "we are not going to talk about strategic policy changes until we have announced or decided to leave the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO)."--0--