We have de facto frozen the activities in the CSTO, if this process continues, de jure we have to freeze it as well. Pashinyan

Armenia has de facto frozen its activities in the Collective Security Treaty Organization, if it does not receive the answer to the question it asked, what is the area of responsibility of the CSTO in the Republic of Armenia, it will de jure freeze it as well.

According to "Armenpress", Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan announced this during a question-and-answer session with the government in the National Assembly, referring to the question of Gegham Manukyan, a deputy of the opposition "Armenia" faction, regarding the freezing of Armenia's participation in CSTO activities.

"We asked CSTO a question and until today we have not received an answer to that question. And the absence of that issue, in our opinion, creates threats to the national security and territorial integrity of RA. The question is very simple: what is CSTO's area of responsibility in the Republic of Armenia? And the question arose in 2021. after the events of May, after the events of November 2021, after the events of September 2022. And the question arose in the following context: the CSTO sent a mission here and as a result of the mission's actions and studies, it had to make an assessment of the situation. Basically, our CSTO partners refused to assess the situation, which caused this situation," said the Prime Minister.

And what does his statement that Armenia has practically frozen its activities in the CSTO mean? Pashinyan said that this means, for example, that Armenia has not had a permanent representative in the CSTO for 1 year, does not participate in CSTO events, high and at the highest level, for a long time now.

The principle of consensus applies to decision-making in the Collective Security Treaty. Pashinyan assured that Armenia is not blocking anything, but it is not participating either. The Prime Minister repeated that Armenia is not participating for a simple reason: it does not have the answer to the question why it should participate.

Armenia knows what is CSTO's area of responsibility in the Republic of Armenia. "And all we suggest is to sign under that legitimate answer and confirm that answer. And it must be done by consensus. If there is no consensus on our question, we should also have a basis to answer the questions of our citizens, including the deputies."

Gegham Manukyan expressed an opinion that the solution to the "riot" situation is the conversation. He cited the example of NA Speaker Alen Simonyan, who directly protested at the CSTO Parliamentary Assembly and presented his grievances.

"The CSTO is not a place for us to go and complain. We are a full member of that organization. If suddenly our voice is not heard in the organization for any reason, we are not observers or guests in the CSTO to complain, we are full and full members of the organization, moreover, we are founding members," said the Prime Minister of Armenia.

He added that the CSTO, instead of fulfilling its obligations to Armenia in the field of security, on the contrary, creates security problems for the Republic of Armenia. And it is a threat to RA national security.

"Therefore, due to this circumstance, the CSTO, contrary to its own obligations, which should have provided an adequate position and response to the security of Armenia, is doing the exact opposite. And now we have de facto frozen, and if this process continues, we must de jure freeze, what else should we do?" concluded Pashinyan.