Nikol Pashinyan demands respect from CSTO allies, expects explanations from Belarus and Kazakhstan

Acting Prime Minister of Armenia Nikol Pashinyan is startled at the fact that President of Belarus Alexander Lukashenko told about the details of the behind-doors session of the CSTO Collective Security Council to the Ambassador of Azerbaijan.

“Our foreign ministry has already raised concerns. Now imagine that I invite an ambassador of a country that is not a CSTO member state and tell him about the behind-doors session. That’s a closed-door session of a military-political bloc, where the heads of member states hold discussions. If the session is behind doors, it means that it’s a closed conversation between the allies. And I am startled that a person that has been head of state for about 30 years behaves like that. Of course, I have to demand explanations from the President of Belarus, and not only from the President of Belarus”, Pashinyan told the reporters.

He noted that President of Kazakhstan Nursultan Nazarbayev has also made announcement contradicting their agreements, who announced after the behind-doors session of the CSTO summit that the representative of Belarus will be appointed CSTO Secretary-General. “No one had the right to make such an announcement, since CSTO’s decisions are based on consensus, and we have clearly expressed our position. As long as there is no decision based on consensus, no one has the right to make such an announcement”, Nikol Pashinyan said.

The acting Prime Minister noted that he raised these issues during his telephone conversation with the Russian President on November 16.

To the question if it’s possible that Armenia agrees to a consensus over the candidate of Belarus for CSTO Secretary-General’s post, Nikol Pashinyan answered, “We work in an atmosphere of partnership and we preserve respect and political correctness towards our partners and hope and demand that they act the same way”.