On August 9, Armenia’s Minister of Defense Arshak Karapetyan received Secretary General of the Collective Security Treaty Organization Stanislav Zas, who arrived in the Republic of Armenia on a working visit.
Welcoming the guest, the Minister of Defense, particularly, stated:
“We have been waiting for your visit since May. It was quite a tense period for Armenia at that time, but, unfortunately, your visit did not take place. Today a stable difficult situation has developed on our borders.
In May, the Azerbaijani armed forces invaded Armenian territory in two directions. This worries us a lot. We are for peace. In any case, we do not want tensions on our borders.
At the same time, we are not ready to accept the actions that could lead to the violation of the state border of Armenia.
We will resolutely defend our territories. We, of course, seek to resolve this issue peacefully, demonstrating our love of peace. At the same time, our patience is not inexhaustible either; in the absence of a peaceful resolution of the situation on our borders, we reserve the right to resolve the issue by force.”
The Minister of Defense of the Republic of Armenia Arshak Karapetyan expressed regret that the mechanisms of decision-making and response to the crisis situations in CSTO do not correspond to the current requirements for the development of the operative situation.
Armenia’s Minister of Defense also informed the Secretary General about the conceptual approaches of Armenia about CSTO chairmanship, emphasizing that one of the priorities of the Armenian side will be to increase and improve the efficiency of the organization, as well as the issues of further development of the CSTO military component.
Stanislav Zas congratulated Armenia’s Minister of Defense on assuming the high state position.
Then, CSTO Secretary General informed Armenia’s Minister of Defense that joint meetings of CSTO Committee on Foreign Affairs, Defense Ministers and the Committee of Secretaries of the Security Council are scheduled for September 15 in Dushanbe, and on September 16, the Collective Security Council Assembly will be held, when the presidency will be transferred to the Republic of Armenia.
