Putin admits Armenia's return to full-fledged work in the CSTO

Russian President Vladimir Putin said on November 28 that Armenia's current attitude toward the CSTO is dictated by domestic political problems and the Nagorno-Karabakh issue.

"I think that the current situation between Armenia and the CSTO is most likely dictated by internal political processes in Armenia itself, and of course, it is all connected with the consequences of the crisis in Karabakh," he said during an approach to journalists in Astana.

Putin emphasized that the events in Nagorno-Karabakh are not related to the CSTO activities. The Russian president called strange the Armenian leadership's opinion that the CSTO should have intervened in the conflict in that territory.

The Russian leader also said that Armenia has not announced its withdrawal from the organization and supports all the signed documents. Putin expressed hope for Yerevan's return to full-format work.

"It [Armenia] said it is taking a pause, but at the same time it supports all the documents that are adopted during our meeting today and in the process of negotiations," he concluded.

Earlier, on June 12, Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan, during a government hour in parliament, blamed the CSTO for the threats faced by Yerevan and noted that the organization allegedly failed to fulfill its obligations to the Transcaucasian republic. The prime minister said that Armenia's leadership will decide when to withdraw from the CSTO.

Later, Ararat Mirzoyan, Foreign Minister of the republic, said that Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan did not say that the country was leaving the CSTO, such an interpretation of his words is incorrect.

On June 10, the Russian Foreign Ministry said that Yerevan still has financial obligations to the CSTO, despite the statement of Armenian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Ani Badalyan about the country's refusal to pay contributions to the organization. The Russian Foreign Ministry drew attention to the fact that maintaining "financial discipline" is a common practice throughout the world, and Armenia had previously allowed arrears of contributions to the CSTO, but later repaid them.