RA Prime Minister: We consider ourselves outside the CSTO

ArmInfo. Russia continues to  remain Armenia's partner. This was stated by RA Prime Minister Nikol  Pashinyan during the government hour in the National Assembly of  Armenia on December 4, in response to MPs' inquiries regarding  Russian President Vladimir Putin's comment that the CSTO should not  intervened in Nagorno-Karabakh on behalf of Yerevan, as there was no  external aggression against Armenia.

In this regard, as Pashinyan noted, there were instances of  Azerbaijan's aggression against Armenia in 2021 and 2022. He also  mentioned that during the aggression against Nagorno-Karabakh  discussions were held with CSTO allies. However, in response, the  Organization stated that Armenia's borders are a "red line" for the  CSTO, and no one would dare to provoke them.  But already during the  period of aggression, the absence of delimited borders was mentioned  as an excuse for the CSTO's inaction. "It was then that we questioned  where, in this case, the "red line" was that the CSTO had mentioned.  We urged the Organization indicate these lines to understand the  relationship with the CSTO," Pashinyan said, adding that Yerevan had  repeatedly raised the question of the Organization's area of  responsibility in Armenia, to which no answer had been received. And  if the CSTO cannot clearly define its area of responsibility, then  this organization essentially does not exist. This was the reason,  the Prime Minister continued, that the Armenian delegation refused to  sign the document after the CSTO summit in Yerevan in the fall of  2022. 

"Nagorno-Karabakh is not related to this issue and is not discussed  at all in the context of the CSTO.  Armenia has frozen its  participation in the organization, although does not veto any  documents. This means that we consider ourselves outside of the  Organization, allowing others to make decisions," Pashinyan  emphasized, adding that the situation around the CSTO makes it  increasingly impossible for Yerevan to return to the structure.