Azatutyun.am. Armenia will decide on whether to quit the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) or not “based on its own state interest,” Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian said on Friday, answering a question from the public on why Yerevan still continues to be a member of the Russia-led defense bloc.
“We will focus on the state interests of Armenia, and if we have made or haven’t made any decision at this moment, our benchmark is the state interest of Armenia,” he said during almost a nine-hour-long live question-and-answer TV broadcast.
“At the moment, our records show that the CSTO’s de-facto actions or inaction do not address its obligations towards the Republic of Armenia, that is, in this sense, the CSTO’s actions are not in line with Armenia’s interests. And we raise this issue in a transparent way,” Pashinian added.
The Pashinian government has long criticized the CSTO for its “failure to respond to the security challenges” facing Armenia.
Read also
Armenia had appealed to the CSTO for military assistance in September 2022 following two-day deadly border clashes with Azerbaijan that Yerevan said stemmed from Baku’s aggression against sovereign Armenian territory.
The Russia-led bloc stopped short of calling Azerbaijan the aggressor and effectively refused to back Armenia militarily, while agreeing to consider only sending an observation mission to the South Caucasus country.
Armenia later declined such a mission, saying that before it could be carried out the CSTO needed to give a clear political assessment of what Yerevan had described as Azerbaijan’s aggression and occupation of sovereign Armenian territory.
Speculation about Armenia’s possible withdrawal from the CSTO was stoked by Pashinian’s most recent decision not to attend the organization’s November 23 summit in Minsk, Belarus, which drew criticism from Moscow.
Political analyst Areg Kochinian said Pashinian’s step and his remarks on Friday were not yet “withdrawal” from the CSTO, but rather a preparation for it.
“One should not overestimate this boycott like some do in the media, calling it an effective withdrawal from the CSTO. But, of course, this is essentially the way towards change, the way of preparation for making some qualitative changes in the security architecture of Armenia to quit the CSTO,” the analyst said.