Armenia continues to be a member of the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO), a six-nation military alliance led by Moscow, CSTO Secretary-General Imangali Tasmagambetov has said.
“Armenia was—and still is—our ally,” Mr. Tasmagambetov was cited as saying by Russia’s TASS news agency on Nov. 27.
The CSTO was established in 1991 following the breakup of the Soviet Union. Along with Russia and Armenia, other members include Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, and Tajikistan.
Mr. Tasmagambetov’s assertion comes four days after Armenia declined to take part in a major CSTO summit hosted by Belarus in Minsk. Leaders of the five other CSTO member states, including Russian President Vladimir Putin, attended the Nov. 23 event.
Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan has repeatedly stated that Yerevan has no plans to withdraw from the post-Soviet security bloc, although in recent months, Armenian officials have been conspicuously absent from CSTO events and forums.
In early September, Armenia recalled its permanent representative to the CSTO and has yet to appoint a successor.
According to Mr. Tasmagambetov, it’s “pointless to draw any categorical conclusions” from Armenia’s decision to skip last week’s summit in Minsk.
“As far as the [CSTO] secretariat knows, the reasons for the Armenian delegation’s absence were technical,” he said. The move, he noted, “represented a decision by a sovereign state, which cannot be influenced by any other state or organization.”
A day after the summit, Mr. Pashinyan said that any decision to withdraw from the CSTO would be taken “in line with Armenia’s interests.”
In televised comments, he said that Armenia’s CSTO membership is hindering efforts to procure arms and support from “other sources”—a veiled reference to Western countries.
