Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian announced the Armenian government’s decision to call off the exercises at a news conference held on Tuesday. He again accused the CSTO of refusing to defend Armenia against Azerbaijani attacks in breach of its statutes.
Pashinian said his defense minister, Suren Papikian, has already formally notified the CSTO’s Moscow-based Secretariat and Joint Staff that holding the planned drills in Armenia is “not expedient.”
The CSTO spokesman, Vladimir Zaynetdinov, said, however, that they have received no such notification yet.
“We understand the current situation in the Republic of Armenia, which may not allow a full-fledged conduct this year of the planned CSTO peacekeeping exercises,” Zaynetdinov told reporters in Moscow.
He expressed confidence that Yerevan will meet its “obligations regarding exercises of the coalition peacekeeping forces.” He did not elaborate.
A spokesman for the Armenian Defense Ministry insisted, meanwhile, that Papikian did inform the CSTO in writing on January 5 that Yerevan will not host the drills “given the current military-political situation” in the region.
Armenia appealed to Russia and the CSTO for support during the September 2022 clashes along its border with Azerbaijan which left at least 224 Armenian soldiers dead. Russia as well as Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan declined to openly side with their South Caucasus ally.
During a November summit in Yerevan the CSTO proposed what its then Secretary General Stanislav Zas called a set of “measures to assist Armenia in this difficult situation”. However, Pashinian rejected the offer, citing the absence of CSTO statements condemning Azerbaijan. Zas said in December that the proposed measures included “military-technical assistance.”
Seyran Ohanian, a former Armenian defense minister who now leads the parliamentary group of the main opposition Hayastan alliance, criticized Pashinian’s unprecedented decision to cancel the CSTO drills.
“His remarks that they could cause additional tensions suggest that the current authorities have some agreements with the Azerbaijanis and the Turks that we must not improve our capacity in terms of not only our army but also the alliance through which we constantly strengthen our army,” Ohanian told reporters.
“It’s not that we are all very happy with the CSTO’s actions,” he said. “But it doesn’t mean that we should not use the CSTO’s capacity … for increasing our military potential.”
“The CSTO must react to Azerbaijan’s military aggression against its member Armenia,” countered Armen Khachatrian, a senior lawmaker from Pashinian’s Civil Contract party. “Otherwise, any actions, including exercises, will be meaningless.”