Pashinyan: CSTO “withdraws from Armenia”

Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan said that his country is not going to leave the Collective Security Treaty Organization, but fears that “CSTO will leave Armenia.”

As conveys “Armenpress”, Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan said at a press conference on March 14, referring to Armenia’s decision to abandon its quota of CSTO Deputy Secretary General.

Pashinyan said that during his visit to Armenia in 2022, the CSTO chairman told him that there were fears in the organization that Armenia would leave it. The Prime Minister did not consider it appropriate, conveying fears that the CSTO was leaving Armenia. He said:

“My assessment is that the CSTO, voluntarily or involuntarily, is leaving the Republic of Armenia. And this worries us. We did not hide what happened. We would gladly accept the position of Deputy Secretary General of the CSTO, if this would not lead to the fact that we would send the wrong signal to our people, and this would mean providing another factor in ensuring the security of Armenia. If this does not mean that, then we see no reason to take such a step, at least based on the logic of maintaining honesty in relation to our people.

The Prime Minister assured that Armenia has long and consistently worked with the CSTO and continues cooperation. Armenia proposed its own principles, which do not concern the RA. “The question is whether the CSTO operates on the territory of the Republic of Armenia. We want and are ready to discuss this issue,” Pashinyan said.

He noted that during the military events of 2022, information was disseminated that the RA government applied to the CSTO, but with an incorrect article, specifically so that the CSTO would not provide assistance. “We applied to the CSTO on all possible issues. Our assessment is not that we are leaving the CSTO, it is that the CSTO is leaving us, which worries us,” the Prime Minister concluded.

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