Yerevan says did not expect CSTO in peacekeeping role

PanARMENIAN.Net - Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan has declared that the CSTO was expected to come to the Armenia-Azerbaijan border as an ally of Armenia, and not as a peacemaker.

“There is a recent interesting case, when our counterparts from the Russian Federation say that they suggested sending the CSTO peacekeepers to the Armenia-Azerbaijan border,” Pashinyan said in a recent interview with British media.

“I am sorry, but that statement destroys the functionality of the CSTO, because if they were to come, they would have come to the Armenia-Azerbaijan border as an ally of Armenia, not as peacekeepers or peacemakers. Many say Armenia said about the CSTO this or that, or this is what Armenia did within the CSTO, but Armenia did nothing to the CSTO, the CSTO did to itself with its statements, actions and inaction.”

Pashinian has repeatedly challenged Russia and other CSTO allies to clarify their “zone of responsibility” in Armenia while accusing them of not honoring their security commitments to Yerevan.

Armenia officially asked the 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.