At the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) summit in Yerevan, Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan refused to sign the draft declaration of the CSTO Collective Security Council and the document on joint measures to provide assistance to Armenia.
This was reported by the press service of the government.
At the summit, Pashinyan called on the organization to give a political assessment of Azerbaijanʼs "aggressive actions" against Armenia.
According to him, the CSTO allies should seek from Azerbaijan the withdrawal of troops from the part of Nagorno-Karabakh occupied by them; otherwise, it "may mean the CSTOʼs refusal of its alliance obligations."
The Armenian authorities claim that as a result of armed clashes in September on the border with Azerbaijan, the Azerbaijani military occupied part of Armenian sovereign territory. Baku denies this, pointing out that the borders between the countries are not demarcated.
Meanwhile, Yerevan advocates that the CSTO conduct political and diplomatic work with Azerbaijan so that it withdraws its troops from its declared territories.
The self-proclaimed president of Belarus, Aleksandr Lukashenko, said in his speech at the session of the Collective Security Council that recently there are opinions that the future of the CSTO depends on the outcome of the war in Ukraine.
"If [Russia] wins, the CSTO will live. If it does not win, the CSTO will not exist. I feel that we have reached a consensus that if, God forbid, Russia collapses, our place will be under these ruins," Lukashenko said.
- Protests against the arrival of Russian President Putin and Belarusian President Lukashenko to the CSTO summit were held in Yerevan the day before. The opposition came out in support of Ukraine and opposed Armenia as part of the CSTO.
- The last military clash between Armenia and Azerbaijan took place in September 2022. More than 40 people died as a result of short-term fighting. After that, Azerbaijan and Armenia agreed on the creation of an EU mission on the border between the countries.
- Mass rallies were held in Armenia for the countryʼs exit from the CSTO — a military alliance led by Russia.