Last November, I wrote that even 4th grade students understand that Turkey and Azerbaijan will attack Syunik. It immediately turned out that I was wrong. Many adults objected, saying that such a thing would not happen. We are a member of the CSTO, encroachment on Armenian territory would mean encroachment on Russia, and so on. The logic was this. Since we got rid of the Artsakh problem, now we will live normal lives. Let me not go into details as to why I do not agree with that logic, but let me say a few words about the CSTO.
The meeting held between the ministers of foreign affairs of each member state took place on Wednesday, and one of the issues on the agenda was Azerbaijan’s invasion of Armenian territory. Confused statements were being made, and Sergey Lavrov repeated his offer to take on a mediator mission between Armenia and Azerbaijan in “demarcation works.”
And now, please, imagine the NATO foreign ministers meeting in a European capital to discuss a complaint by one of the Baltic states that Russia has violated its borders in several places and invaded its sovereign territory. How will NATO react to that? The supposed meeting of that organization will make a very tough statement, which will definitely contain a strong warning that if Russia does not leave the territory, NATO will have to take the necessary steps. The US Secretary of State will not announce that he is ready to be a mediator between Russia and that country.
This is how a serious organization differs from an organization on paper, as well as real allies from non-allies. Of course, Russia seeks equally good relations with Armenia and Azerbaijan, but on the other hand, it is obvious that the other CSTO countries – Belarus, Tajikistan, Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan – have better relations with Azerbaijan, which is not a member of the organization, than with Armenia.
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Apart from the objective circumstances, it can be stated that the current government is working very poorly (if at all) with those countries. And the level of work with the CSTO is evidenced by the fact that they “caught” the Secretary General of the organization.
Aram Abrahamyan
