Zas on Providing Military-Technical Assistance to Armenia

In the draft decision on providing assistance to Armenia, there was a point concerning the provision of military-technical assistance to Armenia. This was stated by the Secretary General of the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO), Stanislav Zas, during a press conference held via video link with Moscow, Astana, Bishkek, Yerevan, and Minsk, in response to a question from Sputnik Armenia.

Zas was reminded that the Armenian Foreign Minister had recently stated that the documents discussed during the CSTO summit in Yerevan also implied military-technical assistance, and he was asked if he could provide more details. “I cannot disclose the details, as the draft decision regarding the proposed assistance is classified. But I can say that there was indeed a point intended to provide military-technical assistance to Armenia. There was no list, though the Armenian side had provided the CSTO with information regarding the priority needs for weapons and military equipment. The conditions for provision varied – some as assistance, some at internal prices,” he stated.

According to him, this does not mean that airplanes would arrive the day after the signing of the document filled with everything necessary for Armenia. However, it would allow the defense ministries of CSTO countries to work on that list and provide military-technical assistance.

It should be noted that on November 23, during the CSTO summit, Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan announced that he did not sign the draft of the “Collective Security Council Declaration of the CSTO and Joint Measures to Assist the Republic of Armenia” because it had not been sufficiently finalized. Later, CSTO Secretary General Stanislav Zas stated that the organization had offered both political-diplomatic and military measures as assistance to Armenia, including the deployment of a mission to the Armenian-Azerbaijani border (where Azerbaijan had launched a large-scale aggression against the Republic of Armenia's sovereign territory on September 13).