VIDEO: 'It's Not That We Like Everything in CSTO,' Ohanyan

Armenia’s parliament member and former Minister of Defense Seyran Ohanyan commented today during a press conference on the statement made by CSTO Secretary General Stanislav Zas, who said, ‘the only thing that has not been achieved is a consolidated assessment of the situation created there.’ Ohanyan stated,

“I would like to compare military-political alliances. NATO has over 70 years of history, and even within it, there are problems. The same goes for CSTO, but it has a contractual history of 30 years and an operational history of 20 years. There are issues within CSTO that need to be resolved. It’s not that we have liked everything in CSTO, both in the past as the government and now as the opposition. There are decision-making processes that could be executed more quickly.”

Discussing Prime Minister Pashinyan's decision not to sign the CSTO charter and the aid project for Armenia, Ohanyan noted, “Relations with Azerbaijan, the border situation, and trenching—these matters should not be addressed by CSTO, but by the Armenian military-political leadership. The entire world is told that they will not fight for Lake Sevan, that these are snow-covered mountains that are unnecessary. So one side says that we will not fight for Lake Sevan, and on the other side, they say ‘come on, take the Azerbaijanis out of our borders.’ As a military man, I have a question—what has the government done to ensure that our borders are protected?”