The Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) member states will be ready to support Armenia if necessary, CSTO Chief of the Joint Staff Colonel General Anatoly Sidorov said at a press conference.
Sidorov made the remarks when asked whether or not Armenia’s decision to cancel the CSTO exercises in its territory would impact the work of the organization.
“If the situation were to require the involvement of the collective security system’s forces and measures in the Caucasian region…..there’s experience, some plans were also developed, and I think that the CSTO member countries would be ready to back their ally up in the Caucasian region,” TASS quoted the CSTO Chief of the Joint Staff as saying.
Armenia's decision not to hold exercises of the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) forces on the territory of the country is the right of any state of the organization, Chief of the CSTO Joint Staff Colonel General Anatoly Sidorov said at a press conference on Tuesday.
Earlier, Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan announced such a decision. "I will by no means take it upon myself to comment on the statements <...>, this is the right of any state. [The members] may invite additional countries depending on the situation, or may as well offer to transfer [exercises] to another territory," Sidorov said, commenting on whether such a decision by Yerevan would affect the CSTO objectives in the region.
"If the situation suddenly requires involving forces and means of the collective security system in the Caucasus region - we have experience and certain plans worked out. I think the CSTO member states will be ready to lend a hand to their ally," the CSTO Chief of Joint Staff said.
The situation in the area of responsibility of the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) remains complicated and tense, Chief of the CSTO Joint Staff Colonel General Anatoly Sidorov said at a press conference on Tuesday.
"The situation in the area of responsibility of the Collective Security Treaty Organization is unfortunately complicated and tense," he said, "The main source of challenges and threats to military security is the destructive activities of some Western elites seeking to undermine the situation around the organization and within its individual member states."
Sidorov noted that the organization remained focused on "moving NATO offensive infrastructure close to the western borders of Belarus and Russia, the growing military activity against the background of aggressive rhetoric of the Baltic states and the Ukrainian crisis." "In this context, the attempts of individual states to strengthen their own positions in the Caucasus, gain access to the resources of the Caspian Sea and direct access to Central Asia, given the high conflict potential on the Armenian-Azerbaijani border, contribute to the escalation of the crisis in the Caucasus region of collective security," he added.
At the same time, the CSTO Joint Chief of Staff stressed that Washington's support for international terrorism created tension in the Central Asian region. "At the same time, the support of the United States for international terrorism, the broad expansion of radical ideas using new methods of propaganda and the active involvement of young people in extremist activities provoke the emergence of new hotbeds of tension in Central Asia," he continued, "In the end, the West's deliberate provocation of crises and military conflicts, the organization of color revolutions, support for terrorist structures, and the use of economic sanctions against unwanted countries contribute to the formation of a belt of instability around its member states".
