Russia, and President Putin personally, has now faced a huge embarrassment.
This time, its not in the battlefield of
Ukraine but at the CSTO or Collective Security Treaty Organization summit.
Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian has criticized the Russian-led CSTO for
failing to support Armenia when it faced "Azerbaijan's aggression."
Speaking at the CSTO summit in Yerevan, the capital of Armenia, on November 23,
Pashinian said it was "depressing that Armenia's
membership in the CSTO has failed to contain Azerbaijani aggression."
He said this had been "hugely damaging to the CSTO's image both in our country and abroad."
Viewers may note that Armenia requested for military help
in September after deadly clashes broke out between the two Caucasus neighbors,
but the CSTO responded only by sending its secretary-general to
the conflict zone and offering to set up a working group to examine the situation.
In this video Defense Updates analyzes how Russia’s NATO counter - CSTO
is falling apart ? Let’s get started.
The Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) is an intergovernmental military
alliance in Eurasia consisting of six post-Soviet states: Armenia, Belarus,
Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, and Tajikistan.
It was established in October 2002.
It is essentially a counter to NATO or North Atlantic Treaty Organization.
Similar to Article 5 of the NATO and the Inter-American Treaty of Reciprocal Assistance,
Article 4 of the Collective Security Treaty (CST) establishes that an
aggression against one signatory would be perceived as an aggression against all.
The CSTO charter reaffirmed the desire of all participating states to abstain from the use
or threat of force. Importantly, Signatories are prohibited from joining other military alliances.
Armenia and Azerbaijan are involved in bitter on-and-off conflict for three decades.
The conflict is essentially an ethnic and territorial one,
over the disputed region of Nagorno-Karabakh.
It is inhabited mostly by ethnic Armenians, while the seven surrounding districts were
inhabited mostly by Azerbaijanis until their expulsion during the Nagorno-Karabakh War.
Nagorno-Karabakh is internationally recognized as part of Azerbaijan,
but largely controlled by the majority ethnic Armenian population.
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Armenian PM Pashinian said, "Armenia is ending its chairmanship of the CSTO.
Although it is an anniversary year [for the CSTO], for Armenia it was not an anniversary year at all.
In the last two years, a CSTO member-state has been attacked by Azerbaijan at least three times,
and actually, till now, we have not received any reaction from
the CSTO regarding Azerbaijan's aggression, which is a big blow to the CSTO's image,"
Armenia has stated that dozens of square kilometers of its sovereign territory
were captured by Azerbaijan during the military conflict between the two countries in May 2021,
in November 2021, and in September this year.
Pashinian said during the summit that he was not ready to sign draft documents regarding
"joint measures on providing assistance to Armenia", since it did not address the
nation’s concerns regarding the CSTO's political position on the Armenian-Azerbaijani conflict.
At this moment, during the meeting, President Putin could be seen dropping his pen.
Pashinian had told the meeting in the Armenian capital.
“It is depressing that Armenia’s membership in the CSTO did not
deter Azerbaijan from aggressive actions”
Pashinian added, "Under these conditions,
the lack of a clear political assessment of the situation and the failure to make
the above decision may not only mean the CSTO's refusal from allied obligations, but may also be
interpreted by Azerbaijan as a green light from the CSTO for further aggression against Armenia".
During the “family” photograph of leaders of countries in the CSTO in Yerevan,
Armenia’s prime minister, Pashinyan, stepped away from Putin, who had been standing to his left.
Outside the CSTO summit, Armenian protesters had called for Russia to leave Ukraine.
Armenia has asked the French president, Emmanuel Macron, to chair peace talks with Azerbaijan.
This clearly indicates that Russia led CSTO is unable to provide any solution
and a fellow member is now reaching out to a country which a part of a rival group.
Azerbaijan’s president, Ilham Aliyev, has accused Macron of an “anti-Azerbaijan position”.
He said: “It is clear that under these circumstances, with this attitude,
France cannot be part of the peace process between Azerbaijan and Armenia.”
It is interesting to note that Azerbaijan was also a CSTO member but withdrew in 1999.
The CSTO is supposed to be a defensive organization,
but as far as Armenia is concerned it hasn’t lived up to its commitments.
Armenia’s criticism follows comments from Kazakhstan’s president, Kassym-Jomart Tokayev at
the UN general assembly in September during which he implicitly criticized Russia’s war in Ukraine.
Russia is trying to save its face and CSTO.
Putin, as quoted by the Kremlin, highlighted the allied nature
of Russian-Armenian relations that he said have "deep roots."
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said the CSTO was a "necessary"
organization whose services were "very much in demand" to resolve regional conflicts.
"It is very important that Armenia and Azerbaijan agree on a peace treaty," said
Peskov, who accompanied Putin to the summit. "This is our main task. And we all have to
do our utmost to...make it happen," he told reporters after the summit.
It is evident that Vladimir Putin is loosing grip on Russia’s regional allies as the focus
and energy is being drained out in the protracted Ukrainian conflict.