"I Consider it Premature": Pashinyan on CIS Proposal for Observer Status in CSTO

Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan participated in the regular session of the Council of CIS Heads of States held in Astana, Kazakhstan. In his speech, the Prime Minister noted, "Esteemed leaders of the states,
Before moving on to the agenda of the CIS Heads of States Council, I would like to thank Kassym-Jomart Tokayev and our Kazakhstani friends for organizing today’s event at a high level and to congratulate them on the successful implementation of their priorities during the effective presidency of Kazakhstan in the CIS. I also sincerely wish success and effective work to our Kyrgyz colleagues in the context of their future presidency in the CIS.
Esteemed colleagues,
As you know, we are working on the normalization of relations with Azerbaijan. In this context, I find it necessary to mention the importance of the role of the CIS. The work of the commissions on delimitation and border security is crucial in this process, for which an agreement was reached during the trilateral meeting of the Presidents of Russia, Azerbaijan, and the Prime Minister of Armenia on November 26, 2021, in Sochi.
As a result of our meeting with the President of Azerbaijan on October 6 in Prague, mediated by the President of France and the President of the European Council, an agreement was reached that the delimitation process will be based on fundamental documents of the CIS, according to which the former administrative borders of the Soviet republics have become the state borders of independent countries, including between Armenia and Azerbaijan.
I would like to draw your attention to the fact that the aforementioned is also an important factor from the perspective of our agenda today, as we are also discussing the issue of the CIS's request to obtain observer status in the CSTO.
Before making a decision, I consider it important to clarify the following questions:
Does the CSTO recognize the state borders of CIS countries established in 1991 as per the fundamental documents of the CIS? This is an important question as it pertains to the area of responsibility of the CSTO, and allow me to say, the very functionality of the organization. If we rely on interpretations that suggest there are no borders between the CIS countries because those borders are not delineated, it means that the area of responsibility of the CSTO is not defined, in other words, it does not exist. This blurs the functionality of the CSTO.
It is also very important to clearly answer the following question: do the member states of the CIS recognize each other’s borders established in 1991 as per the fundamental documents of the CIS? A positive answer to this question is significant for stability and security in the CIS region.
Without a clear clarification of these questions, I consider it premature to make a decision regarding the CIS's request to obtain observer status in the CSTO. These issues have gained particular urgency for us due to Azerbaijan's recent military aggression against Armenia."