Armenia is not changing security system, it is only giving itself and  CSTO time to think about further actions: Pashinyan

ArmInfo. Prime Minister of Armenia Nikol Pashinyan assures that by refusing to participate in  CSTO events Yerevan is not preparing the ground for leaving the Organization. At the same time, he notes that Yerevan is diversifying its security relations due to the inability of its partners to sell it weapons.

"Unfortunately, the CSTO, contrary to its de jure obligations, did  not properly respond to the security challenges of Armenia. This was  repeated many times," Pashinyan said in parliament on November 15,  answering a question from an opposition MP during government hour.

Thus, Agnessa Hamoyan recalled that the Prime Minister recently  refused to participate in a meeting of the CSTO Collective Security  Council, which will be held on November 23 in the capital of Belarus,  Minsk.  Earlier, Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan and Foreign Minister  Ararat Mirzoyan did not take part in the CIS summit in Bishkek.  Secretary of the Armenian Security Council Armen Grigoryan also  refused to participate in the next meeting with partners from the CIS  countries, which took place in Moscow, and the head of the Armenian  Defense Ministry Suren Papikyan did not take part in the meeting of  the Council of Ministers of the CSTO countries. At the same time,  Armenia recalled its permanent representative in the CSTO and refused  to hold the organization's planned military exercises on the  territory of the republic. The MP asked whether Yerevan is preparing  the ground for leaving the CSTO and whether it is going to change the  security system of the Republic of Armenia, or perhaps in this way  Pashinyan is "trying to bring his CSTO partners and in particular the  Russian Federation to their 'senses'."

According to Pashinyan, he is not preparing the ground for leaving  the OGDKB. "We simply decided not to attend these events for various  reasons," he noted.

Recalling that the Organization chronically fails to fulfill its  security obligations towards the Republic of Armenia, the Prime  Minister pointed out that it is not clear to the Armenian public why  Armenia raises this issue at every event, and then, without receiving  a response, continues to take part in the same events, remaining  unheard.

At the same time, according to Pashinyan, Armenia is currently in a  forced search for new partners in the security field, since the  existing ones, due to objective reasons, are not able to sell weapons  to Armenia.  "The biggest fundamental problem is that the CSTO  essentially de jure refuses to fix its area of responsibility in the  Republic of Armenia," he said. In these conditions, the head of the  Cabinet believes, by our silent participation in the events of the  Organization, Armenia also may join the logic that calls into  question the territorial integrity and sovereignty of Armenia, which  is unacceptable.

"With such decisions (refusals to participate - ed. note), we only  give ourselves and the CSTO time to think about further actions. But  we are not going to leave the CSTO, since in this case a certain  dissonance will arise," the RA Prime Minister indicated.