ArmInfo. The Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) considers the potential for an Armenian-Azerbaijani border conflict to be high, Andrey Serdyukov, Chief of the CSTO Joint Staff, told a briefing.
"[There are] attempts by individual countries to strengthen their positions in the CSTO-controled Caucasus, to gain access to the resources of the Caspian [Sea], and to ensure a direct access for themselves to Central Asia," Serdyukov said. "With this end in view, the high potential for an Armenian-Azerbaijani border conflict is being actively used. Signing a peace agreement remains highly important for further settlement of the situation. Despite Armenia's CSTO membership, attempts continue from the outside to influence the post-conflict settlement format," the general said.
At the same time, he stated that the dynamics of developments in the world, including in regions adjacent to the states that are members of the organization, the transformation of international relations and the expansion of the range of challenges and threats dictate the need to improve mechanisms for ensuring collective security and systematically strengthen the military potential of the organization.
"Great attention by the Joint Staff, together with the Secretariat of the organization, interested ministries and departments, is paid to the development of all components of the collective forces, their structure and composition in accordance with real-life challenges and threats," General Serdyukov said.