YEREVAN, DECEMBER 29, ARTSAKHPRESS. The Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) member-states would’ve been ready to send a monitoring mission to Armenia if Yerevan was interested in it, according to Russian foreign ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova, who was commenting on Armenian Security Council Secretary Armen Grigoryan’s statement that now there is a possibility for Russia to stand by Armenia and protect its sovereignty and that Yerevan is waiting for respective steps.
“I wouldn’t want to analyze what your mentioned politician meant,” Zakharova said at a press briefing when asked to comment. “If it is about Russian support in the normalization of the Armenian-Azerbaijani relations, then Russia is relying on the entire complex of the highest-level trilateral agreements, including the 9 November 2020, January 11 and November 26 of 2021 and 31 October 2022 statements. These statement are a reliable basis for advancing the normalization process between Baku and Yerevan,” Zakharova said.
She added that in this process the allied relations with both countries are taken into consideration.
“Certainly, we are taking into account that we are tied with both Armenia and Azerbaijan with allied obligations, therefore as a mediator we always proceed from the standpoint which allows to implement this function effectively. And I truly hope that in Armenia they know this. But if it is about the obligations within the framework of the CSTO, then if Yerevan would’ve been interested all other member countries of the organization would have been ready to send a monitoring mission to Armenia,” Zakharova said.
