The point is, that Armenia doesn’t officially state CSTO Secretary General’s name: Alexander Krylov
“There are concerns in Armenia, that Russia sells armaments to Azerbaijan, there were concerns here linked to EEU as well. We have facts that the organization wasn’t so productive for Armenia, as it seemed. And Armenia’s authorities in both cases say—don’t you realize that Russia is our security guarantee?” Stepan Grgoryan, Head of Center for Globalization and Regional Cooperation, told at the discussion launched at Media Center today, stating that we saw how Russia was providing our security in April. In his words CSTO session may be observed within its scope as well.
According to Styopa Safaryan, founder and head of the Armenian Institute of International and Security Affairs (AIISA), it’s not the CSTO session, to show what CSTO is and what importance it has for Armenia,” As S.Safaryan said, the April war, perhaps, was a serious test for CSTO, as a collective security alliance, where we realized that there is neither an alliance, nor collectivity, nor security and generally there is no any agreement on defending one another.” He also touched upon negative attitude of CSTO member countries towards Armenia.
“Thus, CSTO stopped being a security organization. The statement by CSTO members on NK shows that it’s worse, than the Minsk Group or any other organization, which may appear as a security guarantee,” he said.
Alexander Krylov, president of Scholarly Society of Caucasus Studies, political scientist, was a participant to the discussion through a video call, who said, “The statement by CSTO member countries, that Karabakh issue should be settled exclusively in a peaceful way, it’s clear, that it refers to the Armenian side, which violates the ceasefire regime. Here we may say that this is a support to Armenia. Security mechanisms will be a serious tool, as after t Azerbaijan won’t say that its operations were a reply to some aggressive activities. If, of course, the Armenian side doesn’t initiate likewise actions.”
Regarding Turkey he stated that nobody said that Turkey will be involved within the Minsk Group or negotiations. As for CSTO Secretary General’s appointment, he stated that they directly come across with the issue, whose candidacy Armenia currently proposes, “A few statements have been mentioned, however, it wasn’t officially stated. I have an impression if the Armenian side intended that CSTO Secretary General was its representative, it would initially agree it with other members of the organization. Waiting for Russia to take that direction and dictate Kazakhstan or Belarus its position, assistance to Armenian candidate, is also difficult to imagine. We don’t know Russia’s posture as well—who they nominate. The issue was postponed, as the Armenian side didn’t implement preliminary work.”
Alexander Krylov agreed, that shortcomings have been recorded in April, “I consider, the Russian side drew conclusion, and it was visible during the last military parade, which is the exit of this situation. The Armenian side didn’t take respective steps to keep power balance. However, the April developments changed state of affairs. Currently installation of security mechanisms on the contact line will have crucial importance, and the situation won’t be tense, like before.
By Razmik Martirosyan
