If Armenia determines that the CSTO is a meaningless organization, it will leave, said Samvel Karapetyan, leader of the Strong Armenia party, responding to a question from Aram Abrahamyan, editor of the Aravot newspaper, Factor.am reported.
“First of all, we are going to study these processes — why the CSTO behaved the way it did, why Russia behaved the way it did. If we see, as you said, that it is a meaningless organization, of course, we will leave. But if the current authorities know that the CSTO is meaningless and have been shouting about it for years, why can’t they leave with a single signature and finish the matter?
Why haven’t they left in four years? That means there is a reason they are not leaving. Maybe they are unable to cooperate with the CSTO, maybe Aliyev does not allow cooperation with the CSTO, maybe Erdogan does not allow cooperation with the CSTO. Shouldn’t we study the reasons?” he said.
Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan has stated that expecting a change regarding Armenia’s return to active participation in the CSTO is unrealistic.
During a meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow on April 1, Pashinyan said: “We never concealed our position regarding the CSTO, because in 2022 we had a concrete situation. In my opinion, the CSTO mechanisms should have been activated, but they were not, and this naturally led to the situation we now have in relations with the CSTO. We are currently not participating in CSTO activities for a simple reason: to this day, we have not been able to explain to our people and citizens why the CSTO did not respond despite the obligations that exist under the Collective Security Treaty.”
