“Instead of fulfilling its security obligations to Armenia, the Collective Security Treaty Organization is creating security problems for Armenia,” said Pashinian. “And yes, I want to make clear that this [CSTO] position is a threat to Armenia’s national security … Contrary to its obligation to adopt an adequate position towards Armenia’s security, the CSTO is doing just the opposite.”
“We have frozen [Armenia’s membership in the CSTO] de facto, and if this process continues we will also freeze it de jure,” he told the Armenian parliament.
Pashinian announced the effective freeze on Armenia’s CSTO membership last week. The Kremlin responded by demanding official explanations from Yerevan. It also noted that the alliance’s statutes do not allow such a suspension.
Last year, Pashinian’s government not only shunned various-level CSTO meetings but also cancelled a CSTO exercise in Armenia, refused to name an Armenian deputy head of the organization and recalled the Armenian representative to its Moscow headquarters.
Armenia had asked Russia and other CSTO allies for support after Azerbaijan’s offensive military operations launched along the Armenian-Azerbaijani border in September 2022. It has since repeatedly accused them of ignoring the request. It has declined CSTO offers to provide “military-technical assistance” to Yerevan and deploy a monitoring mission to the border.
Pashinian insisted on Wednesday what his administration primarily expects from the CSTO is not military intervention but a “diplomatic and political assessment” of Azerbaijani occupation of Armenia’s internationally recognized territory. The alliance, he said, also remains reluctant to clarify its “zone of responsibility” in Armenia.
Russian President Vladimir Putin suggested in December that Armenia is not planning to leave the CSTO and attributed Yerevan’s boycott of the organization to internal “processes” taking place in the South Caucasus country. By contrast, the Russian Foreign Ministry earlier accused Pashinian of systematically “destroying” Russian-Armenian relations.
The Armenian premier stepped up his criticism of Russia and the CSTO following his recent visits to Germany and France. An Armenian diplomatic source said late last week that Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskiy will likely visit Yerevan on March 4.