Armenia today threatened to leave the post-Soviet Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSO), led by Russia, if it concludes that it is an “incompetent” structure.
“If Armenia makes a decision on the withdrawal of the CSTO, this will take place after Armenia ascertains that the CSTO has left Armenia”said the Armenian Prime Minister, Nikol Pashinyan, at a press conference.
According to the head of the Armenian government, this would happen if “the CSTO becomes an incompetent organization.”
“Then we ourselves will solve our security problems,” he added.
Pashinyan did not rule out that “Armenia could leave the CSTO ‘de jure’ or freeze its membership.”
”Look, all the time there is talk about why the CSTO monitoring mission does not travel to Armenia, what is the reason. We say it in a transparent way,” she noted.
In addition, he denounced that Armenia’s membership in this organization prevented it from buying weapons in countries that did not belong to the bloc.
”Do you think that other countries have not made us proposals to buy weapons and war equipment? We have had this possibility, but it has been closed, mainly, due to Armenia’s membership in the CSTO”he explained.
In January this year, Armenia announced that it would not host the CSTO’s Indestructible Brotherhood 2023 military exercises despite earlier announcements by Russia.
“The Armenian Defense Minister has already informed his CSTO colleagues that in this situation we do not consider it appropriate to hold exercises in Armenia,” Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinián said at a press conference.
Last November, Pashinyan refused to sign the final declaration of the CSTO summit due to his lack of support during his conflict with Azerbaijan, including the incursions of Azerbaijani troops into Armenian territory after the Nagorno Karabakh war, despite the repeated requests for help from Yerevan.
However, the Armenian prime minister denied that Yerevan has received an official proposal to join the State Union of Russia and Belarus and thus strengthen the security of its borders.
“There have been no official requests and there cannot be”he said while adding that “sometimes you have to look more deeply into the context of some global issues and processes.”
Pashinyan emphasized that the sovereignty of Armenia is an absolute priority of the government.
Armenian Security Council Secretary Armen Grigorian previously said on local television that “as far as the State Union is concerned, there are pressures on Armenia.”
(with information from EFE)
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Source-www.infobae.com