The CSTO reacted with understanding to Armenia’s refusal to conduct exercises in 2023

The CSTO is sympathetic to the current situation in Armenia, because of which Yerevan decided not to conduct the organization’s exercises this year, but there has not yet been an official notification of the cancellation of these exercises. About it told CSTO press secretary Vladimir Zainetdinov in a comment to TASS.

“At present, the CSTO Secretariat has not received official notifications from the Armenian side about the cancellation of these exercises in accordance with the procedure established in the organization … We understand the current situation in the Republic of Armenia today, which may not allow this year to fully carry out the planned peacekeeping CSTO exercises,” he said.

Zainetdinov explained that the CSTO is making every effort to fulfill the approved plans for combat training of troops.

Yesterday, January 10, Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan informedthat the Ministry of Defense of the Republic considered “in the current situation” inappropriate to conduct CSTO exercises in the country. On January 1, the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation announced that nine joint exercises were planned in 2023 with the participation of units of the national armies of foreign states. In particular, joint exercises of the CSTO peacekeeping contingents “Indestructible Brotherhood – 2023” were to be held on the territory of Armenia.

On December 12, 2022, for the second time since the beginning of the month, Azerbaijan blocked the Stepanakert-Goris highway in the Lachin corridor, the only transport artery connecting the unrecognized Nagorno-Karabakh Republic (NKR) and Armenia.

On December 22, Pashinyan stated that the Russian peacekeeping mission does not fulfill its obligations in Nagorno-Karabakh according to the statement of November 9, 2020. After that, Yerevan refused from participation in the meeting of the Foreign Ministers of Armenia, Russia and Azerbaijan scheduled for December 23 in Moscow. And Secretary of the Security Council of the Republic Armen Grigoryan called on the UN, the OSCE and the OSCE Minsk Group to send a mission to the Lachin corridor.

The official representative of the Russian Foreign Ministry, Maria Zakharova, and the press secretary of the President of the Russian Federation, Dmitry Peskov, in turn, said that the Russian peacekeepers are doing everything possible to stabilize the situation.