Is Armenia going to leave the CSTO? In response to this question, Nikol Pashinyan said on the air of the Public Television of Armenia that, as a result of his recent contacts with a number of partners of the CSTO, he mentioned that the CSTO also noted that certain public sentiments in Armenia have grown very quickly and by big steps.

"And even during a conversation, it was said that there is a fear in the CSTO that the CSTO will lose Armenia. I responded to it in the following way, saying that there is a fear in Armenia that Armenia will lose the CSTO or the fear that Armenia will leave the CSTO."

According to Pashinyan, this is actually not a word game, but serious content.

"Let's not forget that I am the chairman of CSTO now. And the chairman of the CSTO will have explanations to the Prime Minister of Armenia in the same person. It is a very difficult situation. I think that I formulated the entire problem with the wording that seems like a play on words from my first glance."

Pashinyan said they expect a clear political assessment of the situation.

"I want to say that at the working level, I have spoken many times within the CSTO, that, for example, when we previously had discussions with the CSTO partners regarding the security of Armenia, because the CSTO is the number one institutional instrument for the security of the Republic of Armenia, we received very clear assurances that the RA border is a red line for CSTO. When the Sotk-Khoznavar events took place last year, we turned to the CSTO at that time, we received a very strange response that, you know, the border is not demarcated and delimited," said Pashinyan.

"Even then, we clearly formulated the need for a clear answer to this question. This is important not only for Armenia but also for the CSTO because to say that there is no border between Armenia and Azerbaijan means to say that there is no CSTO because the CSTO has a zone of responsibility that is marked by borders. If there is no border, then there is no area of ​​responsibility, then there is no responsibility, then there is no organization."

In this context, Pashinyan said that, for example, the border between Belarus and Russia, and between Azerbaijan and Russia is not demarcated. Now that Azerbaijan says that the border between Armenia and Azerbaijan is not demarcated and the border situation is tense because of this. This means that theoretically, Azerbaijan can also invade the territory of the Russian Federation or the Russian Federation invades the territory of Azerbaijan, and when they say: "What is happening?", the comment will be like: "The border is not demarcated."

"But is there a border between Armenia and Azerbaijan? Yes, there is a border between Armenia and Azerbaijan, and they are known by coordinates, and those borders are the administrative borders of the USSR, which were established in 1991. According to the agreement of December 18, which was ratified by both the RA and Azerbaijan Parliaments, these borders were recognized as state borders. This is the whole problem. When they say that Armenia will leave the CSTO or not, it is a wrong wording of the question, the question is: will the CSTO leave Armenia or not, or will the CSTO fix its zone of responsibility, its red line," Pashinyan concluded.