Monday, March 20 2023 17:48

ArmInfo.Armenia's relations with Europe are developing constructively. Armenian Foreign Minister Ararat Mirzoyan stated on March 20 at a joint press conference with  Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov in response to a question  whether Yerevan is afraid of Western interference in its internal  affairs.

According to him, Armenia is interested in this, including in the  context of maintaining the existing positive dynamics in the field of  the rule of law and democracy.

"As for the EU monitoring mission, its mandate is very clearly  indicated. This information is in the public domain - this is a  civilian monitoring mission. It is of an exclusively civilian  nature," he said.

When asked why Armenia refused to accept the CSTO observation  mission, Mirzoyan said that it is not correct to put the question in  this way, because Yerevan has never refused to accept that mission.   "Moreover, the draft decision on this issue is on the table. Work on  this draft continues. The key thing for us here was that, in our  feeling and conviction, our partners in the CSTO indirectly did not  clearly recognize the area of responsibility of the Organization.  From our point of view, this was somewhat problematic," he said. 

In turn, Lavrov expressed satisfaction with what Mirzoyan said,  namely that Armenia did not refuse to sign the decision to deploy the  CSTO mission on the territory of the Republic of Armenia. In this  vein, he noted that the decision was the subject of many hours of  negotiations on the eve of the CSTO summit in Yerevan last autumn.

"All the ministers agreed on it, now it's up to all the heads of  state and government to put their signatures as well. This  possibility, of course, remains. The CSTO is ready and we know about  this readiness. I am glad that Armenia did not refuse this  opportunity, which, of course, meets the interests of ensuring  security in the region," he said.

On October 12, 2022, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, at a  meeting with Mirzoyan in Astana, said that the CSTO was ready to send  its observers to Armenia, this requires a decision of the Collective  Security Council.

On November 23, a meeting of the CSTO CSC was held in Yerevan, at  which a decision was to be made on rendering assistance to Armenia.  However, the Prime Minister of Armenia refused to sign the draft  "Declaration of the Collective Security Council of the CSTO and on  joint measures to provide assistance to the Republic of Armenia."

"The lack of a clear political assessment of the situation by the  CSTO and the failure to adopt the abovementioned decision may mean  not only the CSTO's refusal of allied obligations, but also  Azerbaijan's interpretation as a green light from the CSTO for  further aggression against Armenia. And this is contrary not only to  the letter, but also to the spirit and the meaning of the fundamental  documents of the CSTO," Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan said during a  speech at a meeting of the CSTO CSC in Yerevan, adding that he was  not ready to sign the document in this form.