Armenian Minister of Defense Arshak Karapetyan received Secretary General of the Collective Security Treaty Organization Stanislav Zas, who arrived in the Republic of Armenia on a working visit.
Welcoming the guest, the Minister of Defense, noted:”We have been waiting for your visit since May. It was quite a tense period for Armenia at that time, but, unfortunately, your visit did not take place. Today a stable difficult situation has developed on our borders. In May, the Azerbaijani armed forces intruded into Armenian territory in two directions. This worries us a lot. We stand for peace. In any case, we do not want tensions on our borders.
At the same time, we are not ready to accept the actions that could lead to the violation of the state border of Armenia. We will resolutely defend our territories. We, of course, seek to resolve this issue peacefully, demonstrating our love for peace. At the same time, our patience is not inexhaustible either; in the absence of a peaceful resolution of the situation on our borders, we reserve the right to resolve the issue by force.”
Arshak Karapetyan expressed regret that the CSTO’s decision-making and crisis response mechanisms do not meet to the demands of the operative situation.
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The Armenian Minister of Defense also informed the Secretary General about the conceptual approaches of Armenia’s upcoming CSTO chairmanship, emphasizing that one of the priorities of the Armenian side will be to increase and improve the efficiency of the organization, as well as the issues of further development of the CSTO military component.
Stanislav Zas congratulated the Minister of Defense on assuming the high state position.
The CSTO Secretary General informed the RA Minister of Defense that joint meetings of the CSTO Committee on Foreign Affairs, Defense Ministers and the Committee of Secretaries of the Security Council are scheduled for September 15 in Dushanbe, and on September 16 the CSTO presidency will be handed over to the Republic of Armenia.
