ArmInfo. If Yerevan had reiterated what had been agreed on within the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) and remained ready for signing and enforcement, Armenia would have benefited and would have had greater stability, Russian FM Sergey Lavrov said in an interview with tsargrad.tv.
"We are ready to Armenia as a CSTO member-state as well. In the autumn of 2022, prior to the CSTO summit in Yerevan, a document was prepared on a monitoring mission in Armenia to meet our Armenian allies' request. The document was fully agreed on by the foreign ministers. Later, at the last moment, during the summit our Armenian friends asked for its approval to be postponed. And it has since remained on paper without being implemented," Mr Lavrov said.
He stressed that CSTO alliance is not similar to NATO. "NATO is practicing 'baculine discipline' And some say Armenia has its position in the CSTO, Kazakhstan has a different one. But the only reason for that is that all the CSTO member-states are working on consensus and respecting nuances - sometimes essential ones - which may occur in real life. Some of the NATO members' positions have their nuances as well - Turkey and Hungary, to name a few. But they are forced to 'follow the party line', with 'baculine discipline' being maintained. This consensus is an oxymoron because the USA is the decision-maker there," Mr Lavrov said.