MINSK, November 23. /TASS/. Russian Presidential aide Yury Ushakov expects that Prime Minister of Armenia Nikol Pashinyan will attend the summits of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) and the Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU) in St. Petersburg in December.

"I believe that (representatives of Armenia - TASS) will come to St. Petersburg, there will be an informal traditional meeting of the leaders of the CIS countries and there will be a formal meeting of the EAEU. By the way, at this meeting Armenia is to take over us (Russia - TASS) as the chairman. Therefore, I think that [Prime Minister of the Republic Nikol] Pashinyan will come to take the baton from [Russian President] Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin," the Kremlin representative told reporters.

When asked by TASS who represented Armenia at today’s summit of the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) in Minsk, Ushakov answered in English: "Nobody."

Earlier Press Secretary of the Russian President Dmitry Peskov had expressed hope for Armenia’s participation in the summit in Minsk at the expert level.

When asked whether the Russian leader would go to Armenia, Ushakov suggested: "Someday."

The CSTO summit in Minsk took place amid deteriorating relations between the organization and Armenia. Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan previously accused the CSTO of failing to provide assistance to Yerevan during clashes with Baku in May 2021 and September 2022. In this context Yerevan asked the CSTO to remove the issue of assistance to the country from the agenda. Pashinyan personally informed the leader of Belarus Alexander Lukashenko that he did not intend to go to Minsk. The heads of the Foreign Ministry and the Ministry of Defense of Armenia did not attend the CSTO events before the summit. Speaker of the Armenian Parliament Alen Simonyan said that he will not participate in the meeting of the CSTO Parliamentary Assembly in December. Previously, Armenia recalled its ambassador to the CSTO and did not appoint a new one. However, Yerevan declares that they are not going to withdraw from the CSTO.

The CSTO noted that they intend to continue work on the project to send a mission to Armenia, despite recent changes in Yerevan’s position. It was previously reported that the CIS and EAEU summits will be held at the end of the year.