YEREVAN — Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian has criticized the Russian-led Collective Safety Treaty Group (CSTO) for its refusal to assist Armenia when it confronted “Azerbaijan’s aggression.”
Talking at a CSTO summit in Yerevan on November 23, Pashinian mentioned it was “miserable that Armenia’s membership within the CSTO has didn’t comprise Azerbaijani aggression.” He mentioned this had been “vastly damaging to the CSTO’s picture each in our nation and overseas.”
Armenia requested for army assist in September after lethal clashes broke out between the 2 Caucasus neighbors, however the CSTO responded solely by sending its secretary-general to the battle zone and providing to arrange a working group to analyse the scenario.
Six international locations — Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, and Russia — comprise the CSTO, which was established in October 2002.
Pashinian mentioned his nation had supported CSTO member Kazakhstan instantly in early January when Kazakh President Qasym-Zhomart Toqaev requested CSTO troops to enter his nation following unprecedented antigovernment protests.
WATCH: Lots of of Armenians sad about Russian President Vladimir Putin’s go to to their nation gathered at two separate rallies in Yerevan on November 23.
“Armenia is ending its chairmanship of the CSTO. Though it’s an anniversary yr [for the CSTO], for Armenia it was not an anniversary yr in any respect. Within the final two years, a CSTO member-state has been attacked by Azerbaijan no less than thrice, and really, until now, we’ve got not obtained any response from the CSTO relating to Azerbaijan’s aggression, which is an enormous blow to the CSTO’s picture,” Pashinian mentioned.
Armenia says dozens of sq. kilometers of its sovereign territory have been seized by Azerbaijan through the army battle between the 2 international locations in Could 2021, in November 2021, and in September this yr.
Pashinian met in a while November 23 with Russian President Vladimir Putin on the sidelines of the Yerevan summit to debate bilateral relations and regional points.
At the beginning of the assembly Pashinian reportedly famous that the CSTO didn’t handle to achieve a consensus on all points on the agenda of the summit.
Pahinian mentioned through the summit that he was not able to signal draft paperwork relating to “joint measures on offering help to Armenia” that he mentioned didn’t deal with Yerevan’s issues relating to the CSTO’s political place on the Armenian-Azerbaijani battle.
“Underneath these situations, the shortage of a transparent political evaluation of the scenario and the failure to make the above determination might not solely imply the CSTO’s refusal from allied obligations however may be interpreted by Azerbaijan as a inexperienced mild from the CSTO for additional aggression towards Armenia,” Pashinian mentioned on the summit.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov mentioned the CSTO was a “mandatory” group whose companies have been “very a lot in demand” to resolve regional conflicts.
“It is rather necessary that Armenia and Azerbaijan agree on a peace treaty,” mentioned Peskov, who accompanied Putin to Yerevan. “That is our principal job. And all of us need to do our utmost to…make it occur,” he instructed reporters after the summit.
Throughout his assembly with Putin, Pashinian raised the problem of honoring agreements that Armenia and Azerbaijan have reached by means of the Russian president’s mediation.
“These are essential points, which, after all, we have to focus on, simply as we have to focus on the agenda, which, we hope, will result in an enduring peace in our area,” Pashinian mentioned.
Putin, as quoted by the Kremlin, highlighted the allied nature of Russian-Armenian relations that he mentioned have “deep roots.”
In his remarks on the summit the Russian chief mentioned {that a} assembly between the leaders of Russia, Armenia, and Azerbaijan in Sochi, Russia, on October 31 and their joint assertion afterward created ” foundation for future compromises” between Yerevan and Baku.
Putin mentioned that solely by means of constant implementation of agreements on border delimitation, unblocking of transport hyperlinks, and options to humanitarian issues will it’s potential to realize normalization of relations between Armenia and Azerbaijan.
“We hope that it will finally pave the best way for a peace treaty between Yerevan and Baku,” Putin mentioned.
Previous to the summit lots of of activists representing civil society and democratic establishment rallied on November 23 in downtown Yerevan, demanding Armenia depart the CSTO. Among the many demonstrators have been Ukrainian residents who protested Russia’s ongoing unprovoked invasion of Ukraine launched in late February.
The leaders of the CSTO’s member states — Putin, Pashinian, and Toqaev together with Alyaksandr Lukashenka of Belarus, Sadyr Japarov of Kyrgyzstan, and Emomali Rahmon of Tajikistan — met within the Armenian capital as Russia continued shelling Ukrainian cities and cities with missiles concentrating on vitality infrastructure.
It was introduced on the summit that Kazakh politician Imanghali Tasmaghambetov will change Belarusian politician Stanislau Zas on the publish of secretary-general of the CSTO.
The 65-year-old Tasmaghambetov, who has been often called some of the loyal individuals to Kazakhstan’s former President Nursultan Nazarbaev, used to function Kazakhstan’s prime minister, deputy prime minister, mayor of the Kazakh capital, Astana, and the nation’s largest metropolis, Almaty.
His final official place was ambassador to Russia, the place he held earlier than he introduced his retirement in 2019.
