The Secretary of the Security Council Armen Grigoryan found it difficult to answer a question about what was Armenia’s benefit from its membership in the Russia-led Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) in an interview with 'Lurer'.
"It is difficult to give any example (of benefit) since 2020, because since that time there have been three full-scale Azerbaijani attacks against Armenia. And during those attacks, the CSTO did not provide any assistance to Armenia. When Armenia looked for and found an alternative, such as the EU civilian monitoring mission, the CSTO moved to offer its assistance. The so-called military alliance offered a fact-finding mission to Armenia after three attacks on Armenia. This is not serious to say the least," Grigoryan said.
According to him, the CSTO had previously created certain restrictions for Armenia on cooperation with other security partners.
"I can't reveal all the information, but recently I discussed the issue of security cooperation with a Western country. It was not about military cooperation, but about creating a security system. At first, they said Armenia is a member of CSTO, but after visiting the working group and discussions, the attitude towards Armenia has changed in many issues. Presently, Armenia's membership to CSTO creates certain problems, but it does not limit our cooperation with different countries. We also work intensively with our Western partners to strengthen our cooperation in security area and will continue doing so", Grigoryan said.
He said that Armenia is trying to raise its security capacities and develops bilateral relations with USA, EU countries and India. According to him, it won't solve the security issue fully but it will give additional guarantees.
Grigoryan said also that there was a chance that a peace deal with Azerbaijan could be signed with neighboring Azerbaijan by the end of 2023.
Armen Grigoryan told the national television that the negotiations were very intensive. "If we can maintain this intensity and there is strong support from the international community to achieve progress, then there is a chance to have a peace treaty by the end of the year," he said.
