MOSCOW, November 14. /TASS/. Armenia is de facto withdrawing from post-Soviet integration structures this way seeking to shift responsibility for the situation around Nagorno-Karabakh onto Russia, a Russian expert told TASS, commenting on Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan’s refusal to attend the upcoming summit of the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO), a Russia-led security bloc.
Earlier, Secretary of the Armenian Security Council Armen Grigoryan skipped the meeting of CIS security chief in Moscow on November 8 and Pashinyan did not take part in the CIS summit in Bishkek on October 13.
"It’s very simple. Armenia’s withdrawal from the post-Soviet integration structures is happening de facto, since this process has not yet started de jure. Pashinyan now needs a kind of a lightning conductor after that Karabakh catastrophe. And he wants to view Russia as such a lightning conductor," Vladimir Novikov, head of the Caucasus department at the Institute of the CIS Countries, said.
Pashinyan said that he would not take part in the CSTO summit during his phone call with Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko. He expressed the hope that the partners would understand this decision. Earlier, both Pashinyan and Armenian foreign ministry officials repeatedly stressed that Yerevan was not looking at withdrawing from the CSTO but it recent months Armenia has been skipping the organization’s events. Moreover, Armenia has recalled its ambassador to the CSTO and has not appointed a new one.
On September 19, tensions flared up again in Nagorno-Karabakh. Baku announced it was launching what it described as "local anti-terrorist measures" and demanded the withdrawal of Armenian troops from the region. Yerevan, in turn, said there were no Armenian forces in Karabakh, calling what was happening "an act of large-scale aggression." Russia called on the conflicting sides to prevent civilian casualties and return to a diplomatic solution. On September 20, an agreement was reached to stop hostilities. On September 28, President of the unrecognized Nagorno-Karabakh Republic Samvel Shakhramanyan signed a decree dissolving the republic from January 1, 2024. People were asked to consider Baku’s reintegration terms and make up their minds about whether stay or leave the area.
The opposition place the blame for what had happened on Pashinyan and other country leaders, who had repeatedly stated that they recognized Nagorno-Karabakh as part of Azerbaijan.