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Armenia–Azerbaijan conflict

Russia has security obligations to Armenia, not Nagorno-Karabakh — Kremlin

According to the spokesman, reports of hostilities on Armenian territory have not been confirmed

© Melik Baghdasaryan/Photolure/TASS

MOSCOW, October 7. /TASS/. Russia may stand up for Armenia under its Collective Security Treaty obligations, but these obligations do not cover the unrecognized republic of Nagorno-Karabakh, Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov told journalists Wednesday.

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"The obligations on security are as follows: if a CSTO member nation is subjected to aggression, an attack from outside, then the Treaty signatory nations have to protect this nation," the spokesman said.

When asked in what case Russia would be ready to send its military to the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict area, Peskov underscored that "this is rooted in the obligations" under the CSTO.

"In this case, we are talking about Armenia; [Russian President Vladimir Putin] has made it perfectly clear and he differentiated between these two issues: the CSTO obligations do not cover Karabakh," the spokesman said.

According to Peskov, reports of hostilities on Armenian territory have not been confirmed.

Earlier, Russian President Vladimir Putin noted that the Armenian authorities raised no question regarding Russia’s compliance with the CSTO obligations. The head of state recalled that Russia has obligations before Armenia - a CSTO member state - and noted that the hostilities do not take place on Armenian territory.

The CSTO is an international security organization, comprising six signatories: Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia and Tajikistan. The CSTO aims to counter threats to security and stability and to protect territorial integrity and sovereignty of member states without meddling in their internal affairs.

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FACTBOX: Collective Security Treaty Organization

The Collective Security Treaty came into force on April 20, 1994 to herald the emergence what would eventually become the Collective Security Treaty Organization. The six member-countries are Russia, Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan

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