“Political suicide”: Armenia did not appear at the CSTO meeting

Nikol Pashinyan continues his cautious course towards severing relations with Moscow

A meeting of the Council of the Parliamentary Assembly and a plenary meeting of the Collective Security Treaty Organization are being held in Moscow on Tuesday. Security is discussed: harmonization of legislation and preparation of model laws to counter challenges and threats in the area of ​​responsibility. It is noteworthy that Armenia, one of the current parties to the treaty, does not take part in the meeting.

The CSTO includes six countries – Belarus, Russia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Armenia. The latter, however, may terminate membership. It became known in advance that the Speaker of the Armenian Parliament Alen Simonyan will not come to the CSTO meeting. He notified the chairman of the organization, Vyacheslav Volodin, in an official letter that the visit would not happen. In some media, this position is called a targeted boycott of the CSTO by Armenia.

At the same time, on December 14, at the final press conference, President of the Russian Federation Vladimir Putin raised the topic of Armenia’s participation in international organizations related to Russia. According to him, it is hardly in the interests of Armenia itself to initiate a withdrawal from the CIS and CSTO, but if the country’s authorities decide to do so, then it will be their choice.

Moskovsky Komsomolets talked to about how likely Armenia’s exit from the CSTO is. political scientist, senior lecturer at MGIMO Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation Alexei Zudin.

“The current Prime Minister of Armenia Nikol Pashinyan has been leading the way for a long time to weaken ties between Armenia and Russia,” says Zudin, “first of all, this concerns Armenia’s participation in defense alliances. For example, the CSTO. However, he, however, shows caution and refrains from taking drastic steps. Obviously, Pashinyan thus hopes to gradually weaken CSTO ties as ties with new Western partners, such as France, are strengthened. From a politician’s point of view, not making sudden movements is reasonable behavior, but in general, Pashinyan’s strategy can hardly be considered reasonable, because Moscow is a centuries-old historical ally of Armenia, and also its neighbor. The politician takes steps that cause obvious damage to the country he leads.

— Is it possible to assess Armenia’s failure to appear at the final meeting of the CSTO as a prerequisite for its withdrawal from the organization?

“I wouldn’t be so hasty in making assessments, although there is a lot that points to exactly this line of development of events.

— What consequences await Russia and Armenia if the latter nevertheless leaves the CSTO?

— For Russia this is a negative phenomenon, a weakening of our positions in the Caucasus. But, first of all, these are suicidal positions for Armenia itself, and not for Moscow. Armenia will lose an old friend and ally, but will not gain new ones. How the West uses its allies and states of the post-Soviet space can be observed firsthand. For example, Ukraine is an example.