Video: Baku Attempts to Discredit CSTO and Accuses Armenia of Provocations - Pashinyan

During today’s government meeting, acting Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan stated that Azerbaijan not only continues to illegally remain on Armenian territory but also persistently undertakes provocative actions aimed at discrediting the CSTO framework.

“Azerbaijan accuses Armenia of allegedly committing provocations. As a member of the CSTO, which will assume the presidency of the organization starting in September, Armenia understands its responsibility to not create security threats for the CSTO and to refrain from involving allied countries in military operations. I officially exclude any provocative actions by the Armed Forces of Armenia,” he said.

Pashinyan noted that one possible solution to clarify the validity of accusations exchanged between Azerbaijan and Armenia could be the deployment of a CSTO monitoring mission along the Armenian-Azerbaijani border.

“In the absence of the possibility to carry out such a mission within the CSTO framework, there may be other internationally acceptable formats for us,” he added.

He declared that Azerbaijan's attempts to suggest that Armenia opposes the processes of delimitation and demarcation of borders bear no relation to reality. “We are in favor of it; moreover, we have received a mandate from our own people to initiate such a process to establish stability and peace in the region. I emphasized our views on starting the boundary delimitation and demarcation works during the Security Council meeting on May 27,” he said.

According to the acting Prime Minister, it makes sense to consider the deployment of Russian border guard bases along the entire length of the Armenian-Azerbaijani border, which would allow the delimitation and demarcation work to be carried out without the risk of military clashes. He mentioned that this topic is set to be discussed with Russian partners.

“Our government is prepared to take all necessary measures to ensure security, peace, and stability in the region; we will act in accordance with the mandate given by the citizens of the Republic of Armenia,” Pashinyan assured.