Armenia says that CSTO membership gives it troubles

According to Armen Grogoryan, secretary of the Security Council of Armenia, the country’s membership in the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) gives «some troubles.»

«Even though the Armenian membership in the CSTO gives us some troubles, it doesn’t prevent us from cooperating with other nations. We have been cooperating with Western partners in the sphere of security for years,» Grogoryan told an Armenian Public TV channel.

The official said that his country reported three attacks from Azerbaijan since 2020. However, the CSTO has never given a hand.

According to the Interfax news agency, CSTO offered some kind of assistance only after Armenia contacted the EU Monitoring Mission.

«After three attacks on Armenia, the so-called military block offered us its help in collecting facts. I believe it’s not a serious approach,» Grigoryan highlighted.

On May 25, during a meeting of the Supreme Eurasian Economic Council in Moscow, Armenia and Azerbaijan agreed to acknowledge the territorial integrity of each other.

Before this meeting, on May 22, Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan of Armenia announced that his government was ready to acknowledge Karabakh as part of Azerbaijan if there is no threat to ethnic Armenians in the region.

Armenia and Azerbaijan have been fighting for Nagorny Karaback since February 1988, when the region declared independence from Azerbaijan. On September 27, 2020, the two sides found themselves in a fight once again after a long period of ceasefire. In April 2022, Armenia accused Azerbaijan of attacking Armenian armed forces with multiple rocket strikes and even appealed to article two of the Collective Security Treaty, which obliges member states to assist any member of the treaty under attack.

In March 2022, the Azerbaijani military entered the area controlled by Russian peacekeepers and conducted four strikes on the armed forces of the self-proclaimed region by Bayraktar TB2 unmanned combat aerial vehicles.