Armenia refutes claims on withdrawal from Collective Security Treaty Organisation

Armenian Deputy Foreign Minister Mnatsakan Safaryan has said that at the moment, Armenia’s agenda does not include the issues of withdrawing from the Collective Security Treaty Organisation (CSTO) and removing the Russian base.

“Russian State Duma member Konstantin Zatulin expressed concern on ‘Moscow Speaks’ radio station that the recent trends towards worsening relations between Armenia and Russia may call into question the activity of the Russian military base in Gyumri, Armenia’s membership in the CSTO and the EAEU in the future,” Safaryan told the Armenian media, commenting on Zatulin’s statement about the possibility of removing the Russian base from Armenia and Yerevan’s withdrawing from the CSTO and the Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU), Caliber.Az reports.

“At this stage, there are no such issues on our agenda,” he said.

As for the relations between Yerevan and Moscow amid mutual accusations of officials, Safaryan noted that the countries have working relations.

“Of course, there are disagreements on some issues. We continue working to respond to them,” he added.

The experts have recently noted a consistent deterioration in the Armenia-Russia relations. Armenia does not participate in the CSTO exercises and has refused the quota of the deputy secretary general of this organisation.

A note of protest was handed over to Russian Ambassador to Armenia Sergey Kopyrkin at the Armenian Foreign Ministry on October 24 in connection with “Tutti Heir Dolls. Nikol Pashinyan: a harbinger of trouble” show on Channel One.

In turn, the Charge d'Affaires of the Armenian embassy in the Russian Federation was summoned to the Russian Foreign Ministry on October 25 in connection with publications in the Armenian media regarding the Russian leadership.