Pashinyan to skip CSTO summit in Minsk on November 23

Prime Minister of Armenia Nikol Pashinyan announced that he will not be able to participate in the upcoming summit of the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO), scheduled for November 23 in Minsk. This information was confirmed in an official statement by the Armenian government.

In a phone call with Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko, Pashinyan informed him of his absence from the event, expressing hope for understanding from other CSTO participants. The reasons for this decision were not disclosed.

A conversation was also held with Dmitry Peskov, the press secretary of the Russian president, during which he expressed regret about Pashinyan's decision. Peskov noted that although each country's leader has their own schedule and circumstances, meetings like the CSTO summit provide an excellent opportunity for exchanging views and coordinating actions.

Nikol Pashinyan previously criticized the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) and claimed that Russian peacekeepers in Nagorno-Karabakh are not fulfilling their obligations under the 2020 tripartite agreement.

The CSTO consists of six countries, including Armenia and Russia, as well as Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, and Tajikistan, and is focused on ensuring the territorial integrity and sovereignty of its members.

In October 2022, Pashinyan refused to sign the CSTO declaration, criticizing the organization for lacking a clear political stance regarding Azerbaijan's actions and pointing out the threat of aggression from Baku against Armenia.

In January 2023, he stated that Armenia would not conduct CSTO military exercises that year, considering them impractical.

On September 19, Azerbaijan carried out a military operation in the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic (NKR), leading to full control over this territory. The human rights organization Human Rights Watch noted that this occurred against the backdrop of Azerbaijan's ten-month blockade of Nagorno-Karabakh.