Armenia announces its departure from the CSTO, the military alliance promoted by Russia as a counterpart to NATO

June 12. () –

The Prime Minister of Armenia, Nikol Pashinián, announced this Wednesday his intention to leave the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO), the military alliance promoted by Russia in 1992 as a response to NATO after the end of the Cold War.

“We will leave. We will decide when to leave,” Prime Minister Pashinián said during a speech before the Armenian National Assembly, according to the Armenpress news agency.

Questioned by the opposition about the objective of this decision, the Armenian president stressed his intention to return to “the true Armenia”, a “sovereign, secure and peaceful state with demarcated borders.”

Pashinián has justified this measure by saying that the CSTO has not complied with the “contractual obligations” of the Tashkent Treaty, which promoted the successor alliance to the Warsaw Pact.

“It turns out that the members of the alliance do not comply with their contractual obligations, but instead propose a war against us with Azerbaijan,” Pashinián recriminated, alluding to the tensions with his neighboring country and the support provided by some CSTO countries.