Armenia freezes participation in Russia-led security bloc

Armenia has frozen its participation in the Russian-led Collective Security Treaty Organisation (CSTO), Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan said in an interview with France24 on February 22.

"At the same time, the issue of keeping the Russian military base in Armenia is not on the agenda," he noted, per Caliber.Az.

Pashinyan also said that "a few months ago Russia openly called on the Armenian people to overthrow the government".

According to him, this propaganda from Moscow against him is not abating.

"I am particularly concerned about the abduction of the Russian deserter Dmitry Setrakov by Russian soldiers in Armenia. We cannot tolerate illegal actions on our territory. There will be consequences if Yerevan's demands remain unanswered," Pashinyan said.

In the meantime, a high-ranking source has told the Armenian media that all Russian border guards are to be withdrawn from the Zvartnots International Airport in Yerevan.

According to him, this is going to happen in the near future. The official assures that the decision is political, but does not specify the reason for such a decision. It is noteworthy that the deployment of Russian border guards at Zvartnots airport is not part of the intergovernmental agreement.

Russian border guards are deployed at the airport in accordance with the document signed between the commanders of the border troops of Armenia's National Security Service and the Federal Security Service of Russia. The NSC stated that it had no information on the withdrawal of Russian border guards from the airport.

It should be noted that Armenia and Russia signed an agreement in 1992. This agreement regulates the status and activities of the Russian border troops on Armenian territory. However, no clause in this agreement deals with the services provided at the airport.