Armenian Foreign Minister will not attend CSTO summit in Astana

Armenian Foreign Minister Ararat Mirzoyan will not take part in the joint session of the Security Council of the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) countries in Astana. This was announced by the ministry's spokeswoman Ani Badalyan on November 25.

"Armenian Foreign Minister Ararat Mirzoyan will not participate in the joint session of the Council of Foreign Ministers, the Council of Defense Ministers and the committee of secretaries of the CSTO Security Council," the Armenpress agency quoted Badalyan as saying.

The joint session of the CSTO commission will be held on November 28. Secretary General of the organization Imangali Tasmagambetov and Chief of the General Staff Andrei Serdyukov will take part in the meeting in the capital of Kazakhstan.

Earlier on November 25, Russian Ambassador to Armenia Sergey Kopyrkin told Izvestia that Russia expects Armenian partners to be actively involved in joint efforts to develop a system of equal and indivisible security on the Eurasian continent.

Prior to that, on November 13, Russian Defense Minister Andrei Belousov held a meeting with CSTO Secretary General Tasmagambetov. The parties discussed, among other things, the preparations for the meeting of the Collective Security Council of the CSTO countries in Astana. At the same time, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov discussed with the CSTO Secretary General, as well as ambassadors and permanent representatives of the organization multifaceted interaction ahead of the meeting of the CSTO Council of Foreign Ministers. It was reported that they exchanged views on topical issues of international and regional security.

On September 18, Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan said that Armenia had frozen its membership in the CSTO, as the structure allegedly posed threats to the sovereignty of the state. According to him, Yerevan has come as close as possible "to the point of no return" in its relations with the organization. At the same time, he promised that Yerevan would not break trade relations with Russia and the Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU).

In his turn, Armenian Foreign Minister Ararat Mirzoyan said on October 2 that Yerevan should carefully assess all the risks associated with a possible withdrawal from the CSTO. He noted that special caution is needed in this matter.

The Collective Security Treaty Organization is a military-political union created by the CIS states to stabilize the situation in the partner countries. Six states are members of the CSTO: Russia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Armenia and Tajikistan.