Armenia refuses quota of CSTO Deputy Secretary General

Armenia refused the quota of the Deputy Secretary General of the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO). This was announced by the press secretary of the country’s Foreign Ministry Vahan Hunanyan.

“Yes, we submitted a corresponding proposal to the CSTO,” the spokesman said, answering a question about the refusal of the quota of the deputy secretary general of the agreement (quote by Armenpress).

In January, Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan said that the country’s Ministry of Defense considered it inappropriate to hold the CSTO exercises “Indestructible Brotherhood – 2023” in the country “in the current situation.” in the CSTO declaredthat they were sympathetic to the decision of the authorities of the republic.

In February, the CSTO chief of staff, Colonel-General Anatoly Sidorov toldthat the exercises of the peacekeepers will be held in Kyrgyzstan. Today, March 10, Kyrgyz President Sadyr Japarov confirmed the intention of the country to conduct the exercise.

On December 22, 2022, Pashinyan stated that the Russian peacekeeping mission was allegedly not fulfilling its obligations in Nagorno-Karabakh according to a statement dated November 9, 2020. This was said against the backdrop of the blocking of the Stepanakert-Goris highway in the Lachin corridor on December 12, 2022, which is the only transport artery between the unrecognized Nagorno-Karabakh Republic (NKR) and Armenia.

In response, Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov declaredthat reproaches against Russian peacekeepers in Nagorno-Karabakh are unfounded. Speaking about the situation in the Lachin corridor, the minister stressed that Moscow is in favor of restoring a full-fledged transport connection and resolving disagreements on the development of ore deposits in the region.