Yerevan appealed to the CSTO as well as Russia for support hours after the outbreak of the two-day fierce fighting that left at least 224 Armenian soldiers dead. Armenian leaders afterwards accused the alliance of ignoring the appeal in breach of its statutes.
The CSTO proposed what its outgoing Secretary General Stanislav Zas called a set of “measures to assist Armenia in this difficult situation” during a summit held in Yerevan in November.
However, Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian vetoed a corresponding decision by the leaders of Russia, Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan, citing the absence of any language condemning Azerbaijani attacks on his country. Pashinian and other Armenian officials have since given few details of the aid package offered by Armenia’s ex-Soviet allies.
“There really was a clause [in the package] that called for the provision of military-technical assistance to Armenia,” Zas told a news conference.
“There was, of course, no list [of military hardware,] even though during the work of the CSTO mission [sent to Armenia in September] information was received from the Armenian side on the country's priority needs for weapons and military equipment,” he said, according to Russian news agencies.
Zas refused to specify the types of weapons which other CSTO member states were prepared to send to Armenia. He said only that the South Caucasus country would have acquired them for free or at knockdown prices.
Zas also stressed that the aid offer is still valid and will be put into practice if Armenia and its allies reach a consensus on the CSTO document vetoed by Pashinian.
Shortly after the Yerevan summit, Pashinian expressed hope that the document will be amended to address his administration’s concerns.