Posted on 06/16/2024 1:46:53 PM PDT by Chad C. Mulligan
YEREVAN, Armenia (AP) — The leader of Armenia on Wednesday declared his intention to pull out of a Russia-dominated security alliance of several ex-Soviet nations as tensions rise between the two allies.
Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan said his government will decide later when to leave the Collective Security Treaty Organization, or CSTO, a grouping that includes Russia and the former Soviet Central Asian nations of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan.
Amid the widening rift with Russia, Armenia earlier froze its participation in the alliance, canceled its involvement in joint military drills and snubbed CSTO summits.
Pashinyan said Wednesday for the first time that Armenia will leave CSTO altogether. He spoke during a question-and-answer session in parliament, saying that the government will decide later when to make the final move.
*snip*
Armenian authorities accused Russian peacekeepers who were deployed to Nagorno-Karabakh after a previous round of hostilities in 2020 of failing to stop Azerbaijan’s onslaught. Moscow, which has a military base in Armenia, rejected the accusations, arguing that its troops didn’t have a mandate to intervene.
Speaking to lawmakers Wednesday, Pashinyan denounced the CSTO for its failure to offer protection to Armenia and alleged that some of its members sided with Azerbaijan.
“It turned out that its members failed to fulfill their obligations under the treaty and planned the war against us alongside Azerbaijan,” he said, without elaborating.
Russia has engaged in a delicate balancing act, trying to preserve close relations with Armenia while also maintaining warm ties with Azerbaijan and its main ally Turkey, a key economic partner for Moscow amid Western sanctions.
The Kremlin has been angered by Pashinyan’s......decision to join the International Criminal Court, which last year indicted Putin for alleged war crimes connected to Russian actions in Ukraine.
(Excerpt) Read more at apnews.com ...
LOL!!!
Pashinyan is a lame duck. Literally half of Armenians took to the streets to protest against him.
True, but the Armenians angry with Pashinyan for not going (back) to war with Azerbaijan are just as angry with Russia for "abandoning" them. At least for now. Russia will agitate within Armenia to create a pro-Russia political climate, just as in Georgia. Vice versa for the West.
The fact is that Russia came great lengths to help Armenia out. It mulled ODKD deployment Pashinyan rejectes. It moved in its peacekeeping force once Armenia has lost allowing it to maintain most of Karabakh. Armenian control over Stepanakert has become impossible when Pashinyan went to Prague and ceded surrounding villages to Azerbaijan in exchange of European “security guarantees”. Azerbaijan organized border control on that has become its territory and the city has become blocked. Then Pashinyan started to blame Russian peacekeepers for “failure to lift a blocade”. A blocade he faciliated himself where the Russians has no legal ground to intervene.
Of all recent anti-Russian narratives, Armenian line is the most stupid.
Armenia was “protected” under CSTO. What security guarantees were given to Armenia from Europe?
Broad and unspecified guarantee from Europe, and a mission of observers. They also have an American military mission there, just like Azerbaijan. Except the American mission in Azerbaijan trains in actual warfare, in Armenia is “countering Russian propaganda” or suppressing truth. That is enough to make conclusions.
As for Russia, it did much more to protect Armenia than was reasonable at that point.
Got it. You made it up. Typical...
Lol. If it is going to end badly for Armenia which seems like to be the case, that is another nail in the coffin of Pax Americana, on top of Afghanistan and Ukraine.
Armenia is in a tough place.
They are surrounded almost, by Turkey and Azerbaijan - both antagonistic to Armenia.
Armenia has had close ties with Moscow and Tehran, but both of these failed when Azerbaijan invaded.
Relationships with the west are just to tell Moscow and Tehran that Armenia, if not looked after, could cause minor problems.
Truly speaking, the West can’t protect Armenia from Turkey or Azerbaijan - only close relationships with Moscow and Tehran can do that.
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