Its prime minister Armenia's Nikol Pashinyan announced that he is freezing his country's participation in the Russia-led Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO), while he accused Azerbaijan of planning a new attack against his country, in an interview he gave to the French television network France 24.
A few days after Pashinyan's meeting in Germany with the president of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev – which the latter described as “constructive” – ​​the Armenian prime minister assessed that the commitments for a peaceful resolution of the crisis between the two countries are being disproved on the ground by his actions Baku.
Baku now considers Armenia “the Azerbaijan of the West,” Pashinyan complained to France 24.
According to him, Aliyev does not want a peace agreement based on the mutual recognition of the territorial integrity of the two countries, but seeks to conquer new territories of Armenia.
“If Azerbaijan does not recognize the principles of territorial integrity and non-violation of borders, it is simply not possible” to have a peace agreement, underlined the Armenian Prime Minister.
“Azerbaijan is using the situation to fuel its rhetoric. This makes me believe that he is preparing for a new attack against Armenia,” he estimated.
Relations with Russia
Pashinyan has in recent months expressed his frustration with the stance of Russia – Yerevan's long-time ally – in his country's conflict with Azerbaijan and has assessed that Armenia can no longer rely on Russia for its security. He had even hinted that his country's participation in the CSTO was being reviewed.
In his interview yesterday, the Armenian Prime Minister stated that “CSTO has failed in its goals regarding Armenia, especially in 2021 and 2022.”
“Now we have essentially frozen our participation in this Organization. As for what comes next, we'll have to see“, he added.
At the moment there are no discussions about closing the Russian base in Armenia, Pashinyan noted.
He reiterated that Moscow “openly called on the people of Armenia to overthrow the government” a few months ago, adding that this “propaganda” against him does not weaken him.
In September 2023 in a blitzkrieg operation the Azerbaijani army took full control of the predominantly Armenian enclave of Nagorno-Karabakh, but a recognized part of Azerbaijan. After Baku's victory, tens of thousands of Nagorno-Karabakh residents fled to Armenia.
Now Yerevan is worried that Aliyev has other territorial ambitions, most notably to bring the Armenian region of Siunik under his control in order to unite the Azeri enclave of Nakhchivan with the rest of Azerbaijan.
Source: News Beast
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