Armenia says it is planning to quit a Russia-dominated security bloc as the country’s tensions with Moscow increase.
Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan told parliament on Wednesday that there was ‘no way’ his country could remain a part of the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) as he no longer trusts it.
Pashinyan told parliamentarians: “We will leave. We will decide when to leave. We won’t come back, there is no other way.”
He added: “It turned out that the members of the alliance are not fulfilling their contractual obligations but are planning a war against us with Azerbaijan.”
The announcement comes following months of deteriorating ties with Moscow after Azerbaijan forcibly occupied the ethnic Armenian enclave of Nagorno-Karabakh in September last year, despite the presence of Russian peacekeepers.
Faced with the prospect of rule by Azerbaijan, nearly the entire population fled to Armenia in one week. Pashinyan has since made a series of statements critical of the CSTO and Russia, saying Armenia can no longer rely on Moscow for security.
He has also accused some members of the CSTO, which consists of Armenia, Russia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, and Tajikistan, of siding with Azerbaijan.
Pashinyan told parliamentarians: “We will leave. We will decide when to leave. We won’t come back, there is no other way.”
He added: “It turned out that the members of the alliance are not fulfilling their contractual obligations but are planning a war against us with Azerbaijan.”
The announcement comes following months of deteriorating ties with Moscow after Azerbaijan forcibly occupied the ethnic Armenian enclave of Nagorno-Karabakh in September last year, despite the presence of Russian peacekeepers.
Faced with the prospect of rule by Azerbaijan, nearly the entire population fled to Armenia in one week. Pashinyan has since made a series of statements critical of the CSTO and Russia, saying Armenia can no longer rely on Moscow for security.
He has also accused some members of the CSTO, which consists of Armenia, Russia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, and Tajikistan, of siding with Azerbaijan.
Source: AP/Reuters
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