Armenia’s refusal to host the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) exercises this year is creating certain difficulties for the CSTO member nations, Maria Zakharova, a spokeswoman for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Tajikistan, said at a meekly briefing on January 12.
“Last year, Armenia did not allocate a contingent of troops to the joint exercises of the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) held in Kazakhstan," Zakharova noted.
According to her, “Armenia apparently made such a decision based on priority tasks facing its armed forces, taking into account the current situation.”
“This leads to certain difficulties for the allies, and forces to reform the plan which has been already agreed through the line of the military institutions,” said she. “As it is known for us, such work is going on within the framework of CSTO. We assume that an optimal solution will be found at the end.”
Recall, Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan said on January 10 that Armenia will not host the CSTO military exercises this year. At the same time, Pashinyan launched an extraordinary criticism of the Russian military presence in Armenia, saying that it was more of a “threat” than a protection to his country.
At a January 10 press conference, Pashinyan addressed the issue, and labeled the Russian plans a “misunderstanding.”
“I think there is a misunderstanding, since the Ministry of Defense of Armenia has already informed, in writing, the joint staff of the CSTO that conducting exercises in Armenia in the current situation would be inappropriate,” he said. “These exercises in Armenia, at least this year, will not happen.”
Asked what the Kremlin think about Armenia’s refusal to host this year’s CSTO war game, Dmitry Peskov, a spokesman for the Russian president, said in an interview with RBC on January 10 that “Armenia remains a very close ally of Russia and dialogue with it will continue.”
