Russian expert: Pashinyan harms image of CSTO states

"Pashinyan’s appeal to the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) is a populist move and an attempt to turn to an external force to help the Armenian occupation plans. The CSTO cannot do anything here. It only helps in the event of any military aggression and threat to the territorial integrity of its member. This is not the case now," Senior analyst of Vestnik Kavkaza newspaper Andrey Petrov told the Russian bureau of Report.

Petrov was commenting on the appeal of the acting Prime Minister of Armenia Nikol Pashinyan to the CSTO for help in resolving the situation on the Azerbaijan-Armenia border.

According to the expert, such requests from the Armenian side harm the image of the CSTO: “It turns out that in this way Pashinyan harms the image of the CSTO member states, showing that it cannot help its members in their plans and desires. However, the CSTO has nothing to do with the demilitarization of borders.”

Petrov also stressed that the current tense situation was staged by Yerevan due to the upcoming early parliamentary elections: “Now the opposition is using this to try to put pressure on the authorities and show that they are weak and unable to defend their interests. The current power in Armenia is forced to show its strength, that it can resist Azerbaijan. But, as it usually happens in the internal policy of Armenia, the country again turned for help to external forces: Russia and the CSTO.”