Armenia appealed to the CSTO for military aid during the September 2022 border clashes which left at least 224 Armenian soldiers dead. Armenian leaders afterwards accused the Russian-led military alliance of ignoring the appeal in breach of its statutes.
Russia and other CSTO member states proposed such a deployment during a summit in Yerevan last November. Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian turned down the offer on the grounds that they refused to condemn Azerbaijan’s offensive military operations along the border.
Moscow has since repeatedly made clear that the offer remains on the table. “The ball is in Yerevan’s court,” Maria Zakharova, the Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman, said on April 5.
According to Sargis Khandanian, the chairman of the Armenian parliament committee on foreign relations, Yerevan is continuing to discuss the proposed monitoring mission with its ex-Soviet allies.
“The Armenian side insists that the draft decision [on the dispatch of CSTO monitors] must note Azerbaijan’s aggression against Armenia’s sovereign territory … before we can talk about the deployment and parameters of the mission,” Khandanian told reporters.
Russia, Belarus and Central Asian members of the alliance have still not agreed to do so, he said, according to the Armenpress news agency.
The Armenian government has initiated instead the deployment of 100 or so European Union monitors to Armenia’s border with Azerbaijan. Moscow condemned the EU mission launched in late February, saying that it is part of Western efforts to squeeze Russia out of the region.
Earlier this year, Yerevan also cancelled a CSTO military exercise planned in Armenia and refused to appoint a CSTO deputy secretary-general, raising more questions about the South Caucasus country’s continued membership in the organization.
A senior Russian diplomat said late last month that Moscow hopes to end Yerevan’s growing estrangement from the CSTO.