MOSCOW, February 14. /TASS/. The Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) believes that normalizing the situation on the Armenia-Azerbaijan border requires a peace treaty, while the potential for conflict remains high, Chief of the CSTO Joint Staff Andrey Serdyukov said at a briefing.
"Attempts by certain countries [are being recorded] to strengthen their position in the South Caucasus, gain access to the resources of the Caspian Sea and direct access to Central Asia," Serdyukov pointed out. "These attempts involve, in particular, the active use of the great potential for conflict on the Armenia-Azerbaijan border. The conclusion of a peace treaty will remain important in terms of future efforts to resolve the situation," he added.
According to Serdyukov, the West is seeking to impact post-conflict peace-building efforts between Baku and Yerevan, while ignoring Armenia’s CSTO membership. "Even though Armenia is a member of the organization, external attempts continue to impact the post-conflict process," the joint staff chief noted.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said on January 18 that Western countries were unwilling to allow the implementation of trilateral agreements made by Moscow, Baku and Yerevan, while the European Union and the United States sought to arrange work toward delineating the border between Armenia and Azerbaijan on their own terms, leaving Russian out of the process altogether.