“Our public is wondering why we continue to be a member of the Collective Security Treaty Organization. To be honest, I don't have an answer to that question,” Pashinian told several British media outlets in an interview publicized late on Monday.
“We have practically frozen our participation in the CSTO and … have not yet crossed the threshold of impossibility of our participation in the organization,” he said. “But if things continue like this -- I mean the political positions which [other CSTO member states] express -- it is obvious that that line will also be crossed.”
Armenia has boycotted high-level meetings, military exercises and other activities of the CSTO in what Pashinian described in February as an effective suspension of its membership in the military alliance of six ex-Soviet states. The premier said afterwards that Yerevan could leave the CSTO altogether unless its CSTO allies clarify their “zone of responsibility” in Armenia.
A CSTO representative responded by saying early this month that the alliance is committed to defending the country’s borders recognized by its neighbors, including Azerbaijan.
Pashinian scoffed at this explanation. He said it means “the CSTO doesn’t exist as a mechanism on which its member states … can count on.”
Armenia officially asked Russia and other CSTO member states for support after Azerbaijan’s offensive military operations launched along the Armenian-Azerbaijani border in September 2022. It has since repeatedly accused them of ignoring the request. It has declined CSTO offers to provide “military-technical assistance” and deploy a monitoring mission to the border.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov insisted last month that the CSTO did not ignore Yerevan’s appeals. Lavrov also charged that the Pashinian administration’s policies are leading to the “collapse” of Russian-Armenian relations which he said is sought by the West.