RA Security Council Head: There is no more hope for CSTO help

ArmInfo.Yerevan's demand from the CSTO was to provide military and military- political assistance to Armenia, but so far it has not been fulfilled, Secretary of the Security Council Armen Grigoryan said in a conversation with RFE/RL's Armenian  Service.

 In particular, he noted that only the fact that the CSTO  has not yet properly taken appropriate actions for the Azeri troops  to completely leave the sovereign territory of Armenia means that  Yerevan's expectations were not met, and only in this case our  expectations could be met, he said.

"During the recent developments in Kazakhstan, I expressed hope that  CSTO mechanisms will finally work, that a precedent will be set.  Naturally, there was such hope, and it is natural that such hope no  longer exists. We only expected steps from the CSTO, concrete steps  that we can see and make sure. And this is not only about the  introduction of collective forces; there are many tools, starting  from military-political ones, as well as diplomatic measures,  economic measures. Of course, the CSTO does not have economic tools,  but there are military-political tools, and this issue can be  resolved with them," Grigoryan said.  Answering the question about if  the CSTO does not take any action, what steps will Yerevan take,  especially since there are already calls to leave this organization,  Grigoryan noted that it is the CSTO, rather than Armenia, should  think about it.  Grigoryan did not rule out the resumption of  hostilities, as Azerbaijan continues to make bellicose statements and  also tries to maintain tension on the border. "Our assessment is that  Azerbaijan does not give up its aspirations towards the sovereign  territories of Armenia and is trying to put pressure on Armenia  through aggression," the head of the Security Council said. He noted  the immutability of the demand to Baku for the withdrawal of troops  from the sovereign territory of Armenia. "When we say that they must  leave, we mean that the occupation of the sovereign territory of  Armenia by the invasion that began on May 12 last year must be  abolished," he said. He stressed that Yerevan does not have such  confidence that the ceasefire will be long-term, and because in  general, although tripartite agreements were signed, Azerbaijan  continued to violate all these documents. He stressed that there were  no agreements on the timing of the ceasefire, but Baku continues to  take steps in the logic of military escalation.