What Should Happen for Armenia to Remain in CSTO: Samvel Babayan

Armenia declares that it is suspending its membership in the CSTO and does not explain why this decision has been made. This was stated in an interview with NEWS.am by Samvel Babayan, former Prime Minister of Artsakh.

"At one point, I publicly expressed my opinion and communicated it in writing to the current government that we should suspend our membership. The reason is that Belarus, as a member of the CSTO, has supplied weapons to Azerbaijan, including 'Polonaise' and other arms, which Russia hasn’t even sold, and is lobbying on behalf of Azerbaijan within the CSTO framework. This means that Belarus is an interested party and is lobbying for Azerbaijan's interests in that organization. The countries of Central Asia are in the same situation; Azerbaijan has invested more than $20 billion in those countries, and they are openly lobbying, not even hiding it. They congratulate Azerbaijan on its victory and have done everything to prevent Russia and the CSTO from taking any position during the 2020 war. In other words, we have no allies there. We have a relationship with Russia; the rest are more pro-Azerbaijan. In a family where out of six members, four are against you, the question arises—what are you doing there?

That’s why I proposed a direct roadmap with Russia, to change the agreements until Russia returns to a normal situation, where oversight will be in place in that family, and we will understand where everyone is going. After all this, what more should happen for us to remain in the CSTO? Why should we stay, to do what? What problems should we solve? Isn't it clear that even if Russia wanted to, those countries would oppose deploying troops to protect the borders of Armenia? That is why I proposed back in 2021 that we sit down for direct dialogue with Russia," said Samvel Babayan.