Why Armenia is Not Participating in the Upcoming CSTO Meeting: Explanation from the Secretary of the Security Council

The Secretary of the Security Council of Armenia, Armen Grigoryan, has clarified on Public Television why Armenia is not participating in the upcoming meeting of the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO).

“Since the 2020 war, when it was stated in the CSTO that Nagorno-Karabakh is not part of Armenia’s sovereign territory, we have not been able to engage with those issues; therefore, we are not participating in the meetings. However, since May 2021, when Azerbaijani troops invaded the sovereign territory of Armenia, we have appealed to the CSTO. From that point until September of last year, when Azerbaijan attacked Armenia and we requested assistance, we did not receive the necessary support to defend our sovereign territory. Since then, we have had numerous questions for the CSTO, and to this day, we have not received answers to those questions, which is also a reason for not participating in the CSTO meeting,” he stated.

In response to whether they receive answers to these questions if they do not participate, Armen Grigoryan noted that increasingly they do not receive answers. According to him, not participating in the meetings is not a demarche, and the question of leaving the CSTO is not on the agenda.