The Kremlin announced the continuation of the dialogue with Armenia on the CSTO

Russia will continue to engage in dialogue with Armenia, including on the subject of the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO), said Russian presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov.

At a conference call, Peskov was asked to comment on the words of Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan, allowed Yerevan’s withdrawal from the CSTO, if the “withdrawal” of the organization from the republic is recorded.

“Certainly, we will continue the dialogue with our Armenian friends. We will talk with them not only on the subject of our long-range joint participation in the activities of the CSTO,” Peskov said.

The Kremlin representative also added that the CSTO has previously demonstrated its effectiveness in various situations and has serious potential for further development.

On April 20, Pashinyan announced Yerevan’s readiness to deploy a CSTO mission on the border with Azerbaijan. The readiness to send such a mission on March 31 was announced by the representative of the secretariat of the organization, Yuri Shuvalov, following an expanded meeting of the leadership at the CSTO headquarters. Before that, on March 14, Pashinyan declaredthat Armenia is not going to leave the CSTO, but the organization itself, “wishing it or not, leaves Armenia.” He also said that the Armenian side is not going to appoint its representative as deputy chairman of the CSTO.

At the end of last year, Pashinyan refused to sign the declaration of the CSTO Council and the draft on joint measures to provide assistance to Armenia. The prime minister explained his decision by the fact that the draft was incomplete and does not contain a political assessment of Azerbaijan’s aggressive actions in Nagorno-Karabakh. In January, Armenia refused to conduct CSTO exercises on its territory.