MOSCOW, November 9. /TASS/. Yerevan is again making attempts to shift responsibility for the decisions that it makes onto member countries of the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO), Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Alexander Pankin told TASS in an interview.
Even as Armenia has frozen its CSTO membership and has not been paying fees, it remains a full-fledged member of the organization, he noted.
"We are not leaving Yerevan out of our cooperation as we continue to offer our partners the opportunity to join in decision-making within the framework of this association--a step that would, ultimately, be entirely in their own best interests. Unfortunately, we see no reciprocal effort from the Armenian side," the senior Russian diplomat lamented. "Rather, it is the other way round - new attempts are being made to shift the responsibility for the decisions that they make onto others," he argued.
Pankin recalled that "in line with provisions of the CSTO Charter, a member country may be deprived of its voting rights until it has paid off its outstanding fees in full."
Commenting on expectations from a CSTO summit scheduled to take place in Moscow on November 11, he noted that the upcoming session of the organization’s Collective Security Council will "serve as the culmination of Russia’s presidency of the grouping."
According to Pankin, a substantial package of documents aimed at further strengthening the association’s capacity as a key mechanism for maintaining regional stability will be presented to the CSTO heads of state for approval.
Also, he continued, participants in the session plan "to synchronize positions on pressing issues of international and regional agendas and outline the key directions for the further development of allied cooperation within the CSTO.".