Armenia hints it may leave Russian-led military alliance

Yerevan froze its participation is the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) a year ago

Armenia will likely quit the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO), Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan has said. Yerevan suspended its participation in the organization a year ago, claiming that it had failed to adequately support the country during its conflict with Azerbaijan, which ended with the forcible repatriation of the Nagorno-Karabakh region. 

Russia and Armenia were among the former Soviet republics which founded the CSTO in 1992; it also includes Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan.

Russia has argued that the CSTO could not have considered Baku’s military operation in the area as aggression against an alliance member, due to Armenia never recognizing Nagorno-Karabakh as its own territory.

Moscow also pointed out Yerevan’s repeated rejection of the territorial compromise proposals with Baku which were suggested by Russian authorities.

Read more

Russian-Armenian tycoon launches new movement from jail

Pashinyan said during a press conference on Wednesday that “regarding the issue of leaving or not leaving the CSTO, I will say that it is most likely that Armenia will leave the CSTO rather than unfreeze its participation.”

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said previously that being in the alliance is a “sovereign decision” for Yerevan to make. “The membership in the CSTO brings certain benefits to Armenia… the CSTO is an organization that has repeatedly demonstrated its efficiency,” he argued.

Yerevan has become increasingly pro-Western under Pashinyan; during the press-conference, the prime minister reiterated that “Armenia wants to be a member of the EU,” reflecting a law signed earlier this year indicating this intention. However, he acknowledged that it will be “a complicated process” as the country would need to meet certain standards and get approval from all member states.

Tensions have been high in Armenia in recent weeks following the arrest of two senior clerics of the Armenian Apostolic Church (AAC) and one of its key supporters, Russian-Armenian businessman Samvel Karapetyan. They have been accused of plotting to overthrow Pashinyan’s government after urging people to protest the prime minister’s decision to hand over several border villages to Azerbaijan.

READ MORE: Armenian opposition lawmaker arrested

Peskov said last month that Moscow was “interested in the preservation of law and order in Armenia” and that members of the large Armenian diaspora in Russia have been following the events in the country “with pain.”