Armenian PM says CSTO membership hindered international arms sales

Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan has revealed that international partners have refused to sell weapons to Yerevan, citing concerns that the secret specifications of the arms could be accessed by other members of the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO).

In a statement marking Armenia’s Army Day, published on his Telegram channel, Pashinyan explained that membership in the CSTO has been a key obstacle in concluding arms deals.

"They were not confident that the secret parameters of these weapons would remain inaccessible to the CSTO, of which Armenia is a member, and this membership also became an obstacle to concluding such deals," he wrote. He added that another concern from potential suppliers was that the weapons could be deployed outside internationally recognized Armenian territory.

Pashinyan also criticized the CSTO itself, asserting that Armenia’s allies within the bloc had failed to fulfill their obligations to defend the country. He further stated that they refused to deliver hundreds of millions of dollars’ worth of weapons that had already been purchased.

By Vafa Guliyeva