Top Armenian officials snub Russia-led gatherings

YEREVAN, November 22. /ARKA/. Armenian Foreign Minister Ararat Mirzoyan had a telephone conversation with Belarusian Foreign Minister Sergey Aleinik on Tuesday, the Armenian Foreign Ministry reported.

It said the phone call was held at the initiative of the Belarusian side. The ministers were said to exchange views on the Armenian-Belarusian bilateral agenda and also touched upon a set of issues related to the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO).

Mirzoyan told his counterpart that he will not be able to participate in a joint meeting of the CSTO foreign and defense ministers and the committee of secretaries of the security councils scheduled for November 22 in Belarusian capital Minsk.

Armenian Defense Minister Suren Papikyan will neither take part in the CSTO Defense Ministers Council meeting, according to Defense Ministry spokesman Aram Torosyan.

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

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-