Once again: Armenia will not attend the next CSTO meeting

Armenian Parliament Speaker Alen Simonyan will not participate in a meeting of the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) in Moscow. The event will be held in the Russian capital on December 19.

This was reported by News Armenia.

"The Chairman of the National Assembly of Armenia, Alen Simonyan, will not take part in the offsite meeting of the CSTO Parliamentary Assembly Council, which will be held in Moscow on December 19," said the press secretary of the Chairman of the Armenian Parliament, Tsovinar Khachatryan.

It is noted that the delegation of the National Assembly of the Republic of Armenia will not participate in the meeting.

"Alen Simonyan informed the Chairman of the State Duma of the Russian Federation Vyacheslav Volodin of his decision not to go to Moscow by an official letter," Khachatryan said.

Earlier, Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan ignored the CSTO summit, which took place on November 23 in Minsk.

Armenian officials also did not participate in the meetings preceding the CSTO Council session with the participation of the ministers of foreign affairs and defense and the secretaries of the CSTO Security Council.

Experts and political analysts suggest that this is Armenia's way of preparing for a complete withdrawal from the CSTO. The same scenario may be expected in Kazakhstan due to the deterioration of political relations with Russia amid tighter sanctions.

Author – Anastasiya Glotova, 05/12/2023