Armenia will not take part in the Collective Security Treaty Organisation (CSTO) summit scheduled for 27 November in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan, a Kremlin aide has said, signalling another setback in Yerevan’s strained relationship with the Russia-led security bloc.
On Monday, Russian presidential aide Yuri Ushakov told reporters that Armenia had informed Moscow of its decision to not to attend, but added that Yerevan was not opposed to the adoption of documents agreed upon by other member states. The announcement comes after two years of tensions between Armenia and the CSTO, which Yerevan accuses of failing to come to its defence during periods of heightened conflict with neighbouring Azerbaijan.
Armenia has largely avoided CSTO events over the past two years, underscoring its dissatisfaction with the alliance. In previous summits, Pashinyan delivered unusually sharp criticism, arguing that the bloc’s failure to respond to repeated aggressions by Azerbaijan undermined the CSTO’s credibility.
‘Armenia’s membership in the CSTO in no way deterred Azerbaijan’s actions,’ Pashinyan said at a recent meeting, adding that the lack of a clear reaction from the bloc had dealt ‘a serious blow’ to its image. He described this as the main failure of the CSTO’s rotating chair, of which Armenia’s occupation of is now coming to an end.
Ahead of the Bishkek summit, CSTO foreign and defence ministers held a joint session during which the organisation’s secretary-general, Stanislav Zas, claimed that a draft decision to support Armenia had been broadly agreed upon. He did not give details. A scheduled statement to the press was abruptly dropped, and a brief accidental broadcast caught Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov questioning how the bloc would justify delaying assistance to Armenia while adopting a wider summit declaration.
Armenia formally appealed to Russia, the CSTO, and the UN Security Council during the September 2022 clashes, which left dozens dead. While the CSTO sent a fact-finding mission to Armenia, no collective military or political response followed. Moscow has insisted it is ready to deploy CSTO observers but says the decision must be taken by the organisation’s Collective Security Council, currently chaired by Armenia.
During the summit preparations, it was also announced that Kazakhstan’s Imangali Tasmagambetov will assume the role of CSTO Secretary-General from early 2023 for a three-year term, replacing Zas.
