The meeting of the leaders of Russia and other ex-Soviet states making up the Russian-led military alliance is scheduled for Thursday. It will take place right after a joint session of their foreign and defense ministers and the secretaries of their security councils.
“Unfortunately, our Armenian colleagues have refused to participate in this event in person,” Viktor Vasiliev, the Russian ambassador to the CSTO headquarters in Moscow, told the RIA Novosti news agency. “However, they do not object to the documents that are due to be adopted in the so-called limited format.”
Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian’s office did not immediately confirm the announcement. A spokeswoman for the Armenian Foreign Ministry told the Armenpress news agency, meanwhile, that Foreign Minister Ararat Mirzoyan will not fly to Astana for the gathering.
Armenia began boycotting high-level meetings, military exercises and other activities of the CSTO last fall before announcing an effective suspension of its membership in the organization. The move reflected a broader deterioration of Russian-Armenian relations. Pashinian’s administration has been seeking to reorient Armenia towards the West in response to what it sees as Russia’s and the CSTO’s failure to honor their security commitments to the South Caucasus state.
Pashinian declared in September that Yerevan’s relationship with its ex-Soviet allies is likely to reach the “point of no return” because the CSTO poses an existential threat to his country. The Russian Foreign Ministry dismissed the claim, arguing that Pashinian is still careful not to leave the alliance altogether.
Senior Russian officials have repeatedly said in recent months that Western powers cannot offer any viable alternatives to Armenia’s security and economic development. The Russian ambassador in Yerevan, Sergei Kopyrkin, reiterated that point in an interview with the Moscow daily Izvestia published earlier on Monday.
Kopyrkin also said: “Russia remains committed to its obligations to ensure Armenia’s security both bilaterally and through the CSTO.”