Armenia`s possible withdrawal from CSTO should take country`s real  needs into account - Russian foreign office rep 

ArmInfo.Armenia's possible withdrawal from the CSTO should be based on the real needs of the  country, and not on "flirting" with the West. Official representative of the Russian Foreign Ministry Maria Zakharova stated this in an interview with RIA Novosti.

"Such a decision does not relate to the country's original national  interests," she emphasized.  At the same time, Zakharova noted that  each country is free to choose with which associations it wants to  develop relations, depending on specific reasons and factors. "This  needs to be done based on reality, on the real needs of the country,  and in no case should you play with it, not succumb to the temptation  of some, you know, another staging according to Western scenarios.  And, you know, somehow not play around with it." "This is very  dangerous, because these are security issues," said the  representative of the Russian Foreign Ministry.

She also noted that she does not know why politicians in Yerevan are  imposing on Armenian citizens an opinion about the negative role of  the CSTO.

"This is something that was prepared somewhere in the Brussels area,  this, you know, information stew, which is now being generously tried  to feed the citizens of Armenia, inventing some kind of fables about  the CSTO. "Certainly there has never been anything bad from the  CSTO," said Zakharova.

At the same time, she emphasized that Armenia itself will decide to  stay in the CSTO or leave, but "there is no need to hide behind the  CSTO in attempts to evade responsibility or in attempts to find  someone who is actually allegedly guilty."

On March 12, at a press conference, Prime Minister of the Republic of  Armenia Nikol Pashinyan noted that currently relations between  Yerevan and the CSTO are in a frozen state.

He added that Yerevan did not create problems for the CSTO on any  issue. All the problems arose when this question was raised by the  Armenian side, to which there is still no answer. Moreover, the prime  minister continued, the question did not appear just like that.  "Earlier, clear assurances were received from both the Organization  and the Russian Federation, which did not give rise to doubts or  misinterpretations, that the sovereign territory of Armenia is a "red  line" for the Russian Federation and the CSTO," Pashinyan said. 

He recalled that during the May events of 2021, neither the CSTO  charter nor its other documents recorded the corresponding steps. But  even then Yerevan did not create any problems for the Organization.  But after the events of November 2021 and September 2022, the  Armenian side began to somewhat doubt the effectiveness of the CSTO.  When a signal was received about the CSTO's intentions to send  peacekeepers to the borders of Armenia, the Armenian side immediately  raised the question that the peacekeepers were a neutral party, while  the CSTO was also an Armenian Organization. "But if the borders of  Armenia are a "red line" for the CSTO, demonstrate this, as well as  demonstrate where the sovereign territory of Armenia is located. But  no answer was received," the RA Prime Minister noted, adding that  today this issue is being discussed on the negotiating table.