IV Eurasian Economic Forum in Minsk: Belarusian president on Armenian  delegation`s absence

ArmInfo. At the plenary session of the IV Eurasian Economic Forum in Minsk, President of Belarus  Alexander Lukashenko touched upon the absence of the Armenian delegation headed by Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan at the meeting.

"You know about the position of, say, Armenia. Well, today we can  just nod: "Well, they didn't come, such and such:". We can do this,  we know how to do this. But if something happens, one side cannot be  to blame. We need to look for reasons elsewhere. Why did Armenia take  such a position? Probably, not everything is in order here. We cannot  brush this aside," said the Belarusian leader, whose words are quoted  on the website of the President of the Republic of Belarus.

On June 13, 2024, Prime Minister of Armenia Nikol Pashinyan announced  from the rostrum of parliament that he would never visit Belarus  again as long as Alexander Lukashenko is president. He justified his  words by the fact that one of the leaders of the CSTO member  countries recently stated that during the 44- day war, his country  participated, believed in and wanted Azerbaijan to win. "And you want  me to go to Belarus after that and discuss issues related to the CSTO  with the president of that country?" the RA Prime Minister asked,  noting that Armenia plans to leave the CSTO.

The Armenian Prime Minister also clarified that it was Lukashenko's  position on the war in Nagorno- Karabakh that influenced Yerevan's  decision to possibly withdraw from the Collective Security Treaty  Organization (CSTO). On the same day, the Armenian ambassador was  recalled from Minsk for consultations.

On May 17, 2024, as part of a state visit to Azerbaijan, Lukashenko  also visited the occupied territories of Artsakh, where he not only  offered his services for the "restoration of the region", but also  reported how he discussed the war for Nagorno-Karabakh with Aliyev  even before it began. It is noteworthy that Pashinyan responded to  these words of Lukashenko almost a month later. And such a sharp  reaction of the Armenian Prime Minister to these words of Lukashenko  is not clear, considering that by that time he had repeatedly, in  violation of the Constitution of Armenia, called Artsakh Azerbaijani.