Pashinyan refuses to sign CSTO document on Armenia

The session of the CSTO Collective Security Council launched in Yerevan on November 23 chaired by Prime Minister of Armenia Nikol Pashinyan.

The session was attended by President of Russia Vladimir Putin, President of Kazakhstan Kassym-Jomart Tokayev, President of Kyrgyzstan Sadyr Japarov, Belarusian President Aleksandr Lukashenko and Tajikistan’s President Emomali Rahmon.

Armenian prime minister Nikol Pashinyan has refused to sign a draft declaration of the Moscow-led Collective Security Treaty Organization’s (CSTO) Collective Security Council and a draft of joint assistance measures for Armenia as it failed to condemn Azerbaijan’s aggression against Armenia.

The Armenian prime minister said at the CSTO Collective Security Council summit in Yerevan on Wednesday that the CSTO’s political assessment of Azerbaijan’s attacks against Armenia is important, the government’s press office reported.

“The political assessment of the above events is necessary first of all from a moral point of view, because it should be a logical manifestation of allied relations. Of course, this is also important from the point of view of restoring the territorial integrity of our country, but this desire in itself does not mean military intervention. According to Article 3 of the CSTO Charter, priority is given to political measures when it comes to collectively protecting the territorial integrity of the member states,” he said.

“It is for this very reason that Armenia proposes to speed up the necessary political and diplomatic work with the Azerbaijani side, based on the decision of the CSTO Collective Security Council, aimed at the immediate and unconditional withdrawal of the Azerbaijani troops from the sovereign territory of the Republic of Armenia to their initial positions of May 11, 2021.

“Such a position is important not only for restoring the territorial integrity of the Republic of Armenia, but also for restraining Azerbaijan from further aggressive actions against our country. The fact that the risk of a renewed Azerbaijani aggression against Armenia’s territorial integrity still remains, CSTO Secretary-General Stanislav Vasilievich Zas announced at the extraordinary session of the CSTO Collective Security Council on October 28 of this year. In these conditions, the lack of a clear political assessment of the situation and failure to make the above-mentioned decision may mean not only CSTO’s refusal to implement alliance obligations, but also be interpreted by Azerbaijan as CSTO’s green light for further aggression against Armenia.

“And this contradicts not only the letter, but also the spirit and nature of the fundamental documents of the CSTO. Therefore, based on this, dear colleagues, at this moment I think that the draft “On the declaration of the CSTO Collective Security Council and joint measures to provide assistance to the Republic of Armenia” presented for signing has not been sufficiently finalized, and in this form, with all due respect, I am not ready to sign these documents,” Pashinyan noted.