ArmInfo."Armenia within the CSTO framework" patiently works with its partners, " Armenian Foreign Minister Zohrab Mnatsakanyan said on September 20, commenting on the issue of informing the Organization about the shelling of Armenia by Azerbaijan. According to the Foreign Minister, the CSTO is the structure within which Armenia ensures its collective security. "Armenia will continue to perform its functions in the CSTO no matter the organization will react or not," he said.
To note, on September 20 at a press conference the head of the Joint Staff of the Collective Security Treaty Organization Colonel-General Anatoly Sidorov said that Armenia did not seek help from the CSTO due to the worsening of the situation on the Armenian-Azerbaijani state border. "Therefore, the force potential of the CSTO can not be applied by default, I think that without the use of the CSTO forces, the conflicting parties will manage to resolve the situation on the scene, and it is desirable that this be done peacefully," Sidorov said.
In turn, CSTO spokesman Vladimir Zainetdinov, referring to the situation on the Armenian-Azerbaijani state border, quoted the Spokesman for the Armenian Foreign Ministry, Tigran Balayan, that Yerevan informed the co-chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group, the Personal Representative of the OSCE-Chairperson- in-Office and other international structures, and that it did not appeal to the CSTO. Zainetdinov expressed his belief that this statement by the Armenian Foreign Ministry completely removes the issue from the agenda.
To note, recently Azerbaijan regularly shells the Armenian-Azerbaijani state border, including settlements. Last week, a 60-year-old civilian from the border area of Kochi was wounded by a bullet of the enemy, and yesterday a military contract serviceman of the Armenian Armed Forces received a deadly gunshot wound.