CSTO Sec Gen on Armenia`s participation in CSTO work
ArmInfo. Armenia has not recently participated in the work of the secretariat, but has not sent notices of leaving the organization, said CSTO Secretary General Imangali Tasmagambetov. At the same time, the CSTO Secretary General did not rule out that new countries could join the organization.
Currently, the CSTO includes Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan,
Kyrgyzstan, Russia and Tajikistan.
"Yerevan has indeed not recently participated in the work of the CSTO
secretariat: Regarding the mentioned statements by officials of the
Republic of Armenia, I note that the secretariat has not received any
official statements from Yerevan about the suspension of membership
in the CSTO," the organization's secretary general said in an
interview with National magazine defense". He also said that the
secretariat regularly informs the relevant structures in Yerevan
about the decisions taken and adopted.
"Of course, such a possibility cannot be ruled out in principle: It
is possible that our peacekeeping activities will become a kind of
driver in the expansion of the organization or the emergence of new
formats of cooperation on the basis of the CSTO, the need for which,
unfortunately, will only increase in the foreseeable future,"
answered the Secretary General to the question about the possible
expansion of the CSTO.
According to Tasmagambetov, the CSTO offers very favorable conditions
for participation, including priority to political and diplomatic
methods of resolving crisis situations.
In February, 2023, Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan announced
the freeze of Armenia's participation in the CSTO due to its
inadequate assessment of Azerbaijan's aggressive actions against the
sovereignty of the Republic of Armenia. On March 12, Nikol Pashinyan
allowed Armenia to leave the CSTO if Yerevan is not satisfied with
the vision of the organization's partners on the issue of where the
sovereign territory of Armenia is located and where the CSTO zone of
responsibility lies. The Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs called
such rhetoric unacceptable and insulting, while also calling for a
decision on whether they will remain in the Organization or leave.