CSTO chief: ‘Yerevan doesn’t participate in our work, but there are no statements about suspension’

Armenia has not recently participated in the work of the CSTO secretariat, but the secretariat has not received any official statements about the suspension of membership from Yerevan, CSTO Secretary-General Imangali Tasmagambetov said in an interview with National Defense magazine, Report informs.

“We, of course, with the help of our analysts and the tools available to them, are analyzing the situation around Armenia and in the relations between Armenia and the CSTO. I will not hide that certain events and sentiments among the elites of Armenia are causing concern. But we hope for the political sobriety of the leadership of Armenia and a balanced assessment of the prospects for implementation various scenarios regarding the Organization. I would like to emphasize that Armenia remains our ally, all existing commitments remain in force," said the CSTO secretary-general.

He did not rule out the possibility of expanding the CSTO, noting that the need for a military-political alliance is growing significantly. Tasmagambetov noted that the CSTO is an example of “soft alliance”; this is its strength.

“One of the main ones, I believe, can be considered the absence of strict 'bloc discipline' and a democratic decision-making procedure within the organization. Of key importance is the fact that the CSTO gives priority to political and diplomatic methods of resolving crisis situations,” he said.

He did not rule out that peacekeeping activities, the need for which will increase in the foreseeable future, will become a kind of driver in the expansion of the organization or the emergence of new formats of cooperation on the basis of the CSTO.

In this regard, the CSTO chief noted that the organization is aimed at the participation of peacekeepers outside the organization’s area of responsibility, but within the framework of UN activities. At the moment, administrative, legal and organizational conditions are being actively formed for integrating the collective peacekeeping potential of the CSTO into UN peacekeeping activities.

“An important step on this path was the introduction of the institution of a “coordinating state”, authorized to act on behalf of the CSTO member states in contacts with the UN secretariat for peacekeeping,” Tasmagambetov said.

The CSTO currently includes Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia and Tajikistan.