Armenia asked the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) to remove the document on providing it with support from the agenda. This was announced by CSTO Secretary General Imangali Tasmagambetov after a meeting with President of Belarus Alexander Lukashenko in Minsk, whose words are quoted by BelTA.
“The Armenian side, although all other allies supported this decision, did not express any interest in this document, and moreover, in the final part of our work, they asked to remove it from the agenda altogether,” said the CSTO Secretary General.
In November 2022, at the CSTO summit in Yerevan, Prime Minister of Armenia Nikol Pashinyan refused to sign the draft decision of the Collective Security Council on joint measures to provide assistance to Armenia. The then CSTO Secretary General Stanislav Zas noted that the document requires improvement.
In 2023, Belarus will be the chairing country of the CSTO. The organization also includes Russia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan. Meetings of the councils of defense and foreign ministers, as well as the CSTO summit, are scheduled for November 22 and 23 in Minsk. Prime Minister of Armenia Nikol Pashinyan will not take part in the events.
“The Prime Minister of Armenia informed the President of Belarus that he would not be able to take part in the meeting of the CSTO Collective Security Council, and expressed hope that his CSTO colleagues would treat this decision with understanding,” the press service of the Armenian government said.
In May, the head of the Armenian military department, Suren Papikyan, missed a meeting of the CSTO Council of Defense Ministers in Minsk. And the Armenian rescuers did not attend the exercises of the CSTO countries, which took place in Belarus in September. Yerevan also refused to hold CSTO peacekeeping exercises “Indestructible Brotherhood – 2023” in the republic.
Tags: Armenia refused assistance CSTO
