Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan described Yerevan’s relations with Moscow as “very frank” and said that the Russia-led Collective Security Treaty Organization is “leaving Armenia behind.”
“Our relations with Russia are very frank, I don’t see a crisis,” Pashinyan said at a press conference on Tuesday. “We talk to one another, discuss, and we have registered that there are problems, a part of which are objective. These problems aren’t subjective the might impact the relations. Our relations are in a normal state, which doesn’t mean that there are no mutual concerns.”
He also discussed his phone conversation with President Vladimir Putin of Russia, saying that it focused mainly on the dangerous escalation in Nagorno-Karabakh.
“I conveyed my impressions. I also underscored that I think that there are problems in the area of responsibility of the Russian peacekeeping forces in Nagorno Karabakh,” said Pashinyan.
The prime minister said that he conveyed concerns regarding the Azerbaijani ambush as a result of which three Artsakh police officers were killed when their vehicle was attacked. He told the Russia leader that the incident took place in an area that is guarded by Russian peacekeepers. Pashinyan did express that protests by Artsakh residents in front of the peacekeepers’ headquarters had surprised him.
Pashinyan would not elaborate on Putin’s response to his concerns.
Last week, Armenia announced that it would not nominate a person to serve as the CSTO deputy secretary-general, a move largely seen as a snub by Armenia.
When asked about the matter and Armenia’s future in the Russia-led security bloc, Pashinyan said that he was told by the CSTO Secretary-General in 2022 that there were concerns among member-states that Armenia was preparing to leave the organization.
“My assessment is that the CSTO, willingly or unwillingly, is leaving the Republic of Armenia. And this worries us. We have not concealed anything that has happened. We would be happy to assume the position of the CSTO Deputy Secretary-General if would not be the wrong message to our people… If it would mean an additional layer of security for Armenia,” explained Pashinyan.
He said that Armenia has been working with the CSTO very consistently for a long time and continues to do so.
Armenia declined to sign a statement after the CSTO summit in Yerevan, saying that the organization failed to characterize and condemn Azerbaijan’s incursion into Armenia’s sovereign territory in September.
