MOSCOW, September 15. /TASS/. The deployment of a peacekeeping contingent of the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) in Armenia is not yet on the agenda, Chief of the CSTO Joint Staff Colonel General Anatoly Sidorov said at a briefing on Thursday.
"Let’s not get ahead of ourselves. On September 13, our heads of states unanimously declared that the problem which exists between Armenia and Azerbaijan should be resolved by political and diplomatic means," he specified. "So we are not talking about using military force with the involvement of the CSTO neither on September 13, nor yesterday, nor today, and nor do I think in the near future," the military official added.
He reiterated that the sides had agreed to a ceasefire and this agreement is being observed. "So we hope that in the future the processes will unfold this way and will be resolved peacefully, without the use of weapons," the colonel general added.
The Armenian Defense Ministry said that in the early hours of Tuesday Azerbaijan’s armed forces had opened fire on the settlements of Goris, Sotk and Jermuk, using artillery, heavy guns and small arms. The Armenian Security Council held an emergency meeting, making a decision to request Russian assistance by activating the relevant provisions of the Agreement on Friendship, Cooperation and Mutual Assistance and also to appeal to the CSTO and the UN Security Council. Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan told the country’s parliament that the Azerbaijani attacks had killed 105 Armenian servicemen.