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CSTO counts on Armenia’s political sobriety regarding ties with Moscow-led security bloc

"I want to stress that Armenia remains our ally and all existing obligations are still in force," CSTO Secretary General Imangal Tasmagambetov said

MOSCOW, March 12. /TASS/. Despite disturbing sentiments among Armenia's elites, the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) hopes for the political sobriety of the country's leadership, while Yerevan still remains an ally to the organization, CSTO Secretary General Imangali Tasmagambetov told TASS.

"I should say that certain developments and sentiments among the elites of Armenia cause concerns," Tasmagambetov said in an interview with TASS. "However, we hope for the political sobriety of the Armenian leadership and for a balanced assessment of the prospects for the implementation of different scenarios regarding the [country’s further participation in the] organization."

"I want to stress that Armenia remains our ally and all existing obligations are still in force," Tasmagambetov said in response to a question whether the CSTO anticipated Yerevan’s statement on its membership suspension within the organization.

"Both I and the [CSTO] Secretariat work in strict compliance with the organization's regulations and procedures," he stated. "We definitely resort to our analysts and all tools available to them [Armenia] to analyze the overall situation regarding Armenia and the country’s interaction with the organization."

Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan said in an interview with France 24 last month that Armenia had suspended its participation in the CSTO. The organization’s Secretariat, however, said that Armenia did not notify them about this. Yerevan skipped a range of recent meetings in integration formats. Thus, Pashinyan did not take part in the CSTO summit in Minsk last November.

Russian Presidential Spokesman Dmitry Peskov said earlier that Moscow maintained contacts with Yerevan to clarify the statements made by Prime Minister Pashinyan regarding the Moscow-led security bloc.

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