MOSCOW (Reuters) – The Kremlin said on Friday that Russia plans to contact Armenia after Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan said Yerevan had frozen its participation in the Russian-led Collective Security Treaty Organisation (CSTO) because the pact had failed the country.
Pashinyan made the comments in an interview broadcast on Thursday.
He has in recent months expressed discontent over Armenia’s longstanding ties with Russia and said Armenia could no longer rely on Russia to ensure its defence needs. He has also suggested its membership of the CSTO is under review.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told the defence ministry-owned Zvezda television channel on Friday that Moscow needed more details from Armenia.
“The Armenian side has not taken any official action in this regard,” he said, referring to the purported freezing of its CSTO participation.
“We intend to get in touch with our colleagues and clarify the meaning of these statements.”
Other ex-Soviet members of the CSTO include Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan.
“The CSTO secretariat has not received any statements from Yerevan about the suspension of its membership,” the Interfax news agency reported on Friday, citing the organisation’s press service.
“As for the thesis about the freezing of participation (in the bloc), apparently, it refers to the Republic of Armenia’s non-participation in a number of events held by the organisation recently.”
(Reporting by Reuters; Editing by Andrew Osborn)
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