The Russian-led military alliance of six ex-Soviet states proposed such a deployment during a summit of its leaders held in Yerevan last November. Armenia reportedly declined it because the other CSTO member states refused to condemn Azerbaijan’s offensive military operations along the border.
Yerevan requested a new and larger monitoring mission by the European Union. The EU announced the impending launch of the two-year mission on January 23, drawing strong criticism from Russia.
Lavrov said on Wednesday that the CSTO offer is still “on the table.” The Armenian government did not publicly react to his statement.
Still, two lawmakers representing Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian’s Civil Contract party, insisted that the CSTO must make a “political evaluation” of Azerbaijan’s actions before it can deploy observers to Armenian border areas.
“They must come with a clear mission, right?” one of them, Gevorg Papoyan, told RFE/RL’s Armenian Service. “An evaluation must be made.”
“What’s the point of coming here without an evaluation?” said Papoyan, who is also a member of Civil Contract’s governing body.
“They must first acknowledge the fact that Azerbaijan invaded and occupied Armenia’s sovereign territory,” said Sargis Khandanian, another Civil Contract parliamentarian. “In case of an acknowledgement of this reality, it will be possible to deploy some kind of a monitoring group that would contribute to security.”
The disagreement highlights growing friction between Russia and Armenia. It has been exacerbated by Azerbaijan’s continuing blockade of the sole road connecting Nagorno-Karabakh to Armenia. Pashinian has accused Russian peacekeepers deployed in Karabakh of doing little to unblock the vital road.
Tigran Abrahamian, an opposition parliamentarian, expressed serious concern over the apparent rift between the two allied countries, saying that it poses a “national security threat” to Armenia. He suggests that the Pashinian government’s stance on border monitoring may signify a radical change in Armenia’s traditional foreign policy.
“If Armenia’s political course has really changed both on the ground and conceptually, then the authorities must acknowledge this so that we get a better idea of why Armenia has refused the services of its strategic ally … and appealed instead for an EU monitoring mission,” said Abrahamian.