TSAMTO, February 26th. The Collective Security Treaty with respect to Armenia has not been implemented, so Yerevan has frozen its participation in the organization (CSTO).
This was stated by Prime Minister of the Republic Nikol Pashinyan in an interview with France24 TV channel, RIA Novosti reports.
"In our opinion, the collective security treaty on Armenia was not implemented, especially in 2021-2022, and this could not go unnoticed by us. We have frozen our participation in this agreement. We'll see what happens next," he said.
The obvious provocative nature of Pashinyan's interview with France24 TV channel becomes even more obvious, since the CSTO at that time did not receive statements from Yerevan about the suspension of membership. In other words, Yerevan considered it normal to throw such an important issue into the media first.
"To date, the CSTO Secretariat has not received any statements from Yerevan on the suspension of CSTO membership. As for the thesis on the freezing of participation, apparently, we are talking about the non–participation of the Republic of Armenia in a number of events held by the Organization recently," the CSTO told RIA Novosti.
It is noteworthy that at the same time there were reports that France would provide Armenia with missiles for air defense systems if Yerevan needed it. This was stated in Yerevan on February 23 by the head of the French military department, Sebastian Lecornu, at a joint briefing with his Armenian counterpart Suren Papikyan.
As the agency reminds, Yerevan has repeatedly accused the CSTO and Moscow of not fulfilling their obligations. So, in January, the Secretary of the Security Council of Armenia, Armen Grigoryan, said that the republic "has no expectations" from the Collective Security Treaty Organization, since it did not receive an "adequate response" in September 2022 at the time of a "large-scale attack."
Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan refused to participate in the CSTO summit in Minsk on November 23, 2023.
TSAMTO's comment
In general, it can be stated that the pro-Western vector of the current Armenian leadership is obvious.
The latest event that triggered the collapse of Yerevan's bilateral relations with Moscow was the mass "exodus" of Armenians at the end of September 2023 as a result of the de facto incorporation of Nagorno-Karabakh into Azerbaijan by force. Moreover, N. Pashinyan himself earlier, in May 2023, gave his consent to the de jure incorporation of Nagorno-Karabakh into Azerbaijan (N.Pashinyan officially and publicly stated that Yerevan recognizes the sovereignty of Azerbaijan along with the territory of Nagorno-Karabakh), and when Azerbaijan decided to restore the status quo by force, blamed the tragedy the Karabakh Armenians of the Russian peacekeepers (in fact, N. Pashinyan pushed Russia to start hostilities against Azerbaijan to protect the Armenians in Nagorno-Karabakh, that is, in fact, to unleash a full-scale war in Transcaucasia, which could later lead to a clash between Russia and NATO). Pashinyan did not utter a single word of gratitude to the Russian peacekeepers, although several Russian peacekeepers died doing their duty. Russian peacekeepers ensured the safe exit of Armenians from Nagorno-Karabakh to Armenia. The situation was extremely difficult: in a week about 100 thousand people left their homes and moved to Armenia, whose safety along the route was provided by Russian peacekeepers.
Pashinyan has repeatedly made provocative statements against the CSTO and Russia before.
According to TSAMTO, the refusal to cooperate with Russia, withdrawal from the CSTO and the possible closure of the 102nd Russian military base will mean the beginning of the end of independent Armenia.
In general, the current military-political situation in Transcaucasia is characterized by a gradual increase in contacts between the leadership of Armenia and the collective West, including at the level of defense departments and special services (primarily the United States).
Against this background, the United States is playing its own card in Armenia, where, using lobbyists in government agencies, networks of influence in the face of numerous NGOs and the media, speculate on the national feelings of the Armenian society, trying to take Yerevan out of the orbit of Russian influence, use the Armenian factor to destabilize the CSTO and the EAEU, disrupt the work of the international transport corridor "North-South"and also as a springboard in the policy of pressure on Iran.
