Yerevan, November 14 – Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan will not attend the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) summit in Minsk on November 23, according to the Armenian government’s press service. Pashinyan informed Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko of his decision in a phone conversation. The message stated that “discussions were held on issues related to the organization of the CSTO Council session, which will take place on November 23 in Minsk. Prime Minister Pashinyan informed President Lukashenko that he will not be able to participate in the session and expressed hope that the CSTO partners will understand this decision.”
This is not the first time Pashinyan has skipped an international summit. On October 26, he did not attend the Eurasian Economic Union (EEU) and Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) intergovernmental councils in Bishkek. Azerbaijani Prime Minister Ali Asadov also missed the meeting. Prior to that, on October 13, the Armenian Prime Minister declined to participate in the CIS summit, which also took place in the capital of Kyrgyzstan. Additionally, Armenian Secretary of the Security Council Armen Grigoryan refused to attend the recent meeting of the Security Council secretaries of the CIS countries held in Moscow on November 8.
Last week, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov stated that Moscow supports Armenia, as a member of the CSTO, Russia’s close ally and strategic partner, in determining its own relations with other countries. He emphasized that Moscow has no prejudices in this matter. At the same time, the Foreign Minister added that Western countries “actively court Armenia and want to be friends with it against Russia.” In recent months, Moscow has criticized some decisions and statements by official Yerevan, considering them unfriendly. The Armenian Parliament ratified the statute of the International Criminal Court, which previously issued arrest warrants for Vladimir Putin and children’s ombudsman Maria Lvova-Belova. In addition, Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan criticized the work of the Russian peacekeeping contingent in Nagorno-Karabakh.
