Armenia refuses to host CSTO exercises

Baku/10.01.23/Turan: Yerevan is not going to withdraw from the CSTO and CIS unless the Lachin corridor is unblocked by 10 January. Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan said this at a news conference in Yerevan on Tuesday.

"I don't think we should speak to our partners in the language of ultimatums. What we wanted to say on the current situation, we have already declared publicly, and we have nothing to add," he said.

He said that the closure of the road was meant to break the will of the people of Karabakh and their determination to live in their homeland. He reiterated his demand that the Russian side must ensure free movement on the road and take it under control.

Pashinyan went on to say that Armenia was refusing to host the CSTO exercises "Unbreakable Brotherhood-2023". He made it clear that Russia had not fulfilled its role as Armenia's security guarantor during the 44-day war and beyond 2020 - he meant the fighting on the Armenian-Azerbaijani border in May 2021 and September 2022.

"Armenia expected specific actions from its Russian and other security partners. However, Yerevan was told that the borders between Armenia and Azerbaijan were not demarcated," he said.

"This issue is important from building further relations standpoint. At the CSTO summit in Yerevan in November, the Armenian side made it clear that it was not going to adopt any document without clarifying this issue," Pashinyan said. -02D-