Armenia’s prime minister today left open the possibility of his country withdrawing from a military alliance led by Russia, as his government accuses Moscow of not supporting it in its war with Azerbaijan.

“I do not rule out that Armenia will take the decision to withdraw from the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO)” if the alliance does not fulfill its obligations, Pashinyan said at a press conference in Yerevan.

This statement comes a few days before talks between Pashinyan and Azerbaijan’s President Ilham Aliyev are to be held in Moscow, which will be hosted by Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Armenia and Azerbaijan, two former Soviet republics, have clashed in two wars over control of the mountainous enclave of Nagorno-Karabakh. With the intervention of Russia, a ceasefire was achieved in 2020 and a peacekeeping force was deployed in the region, but Yerevan accuses it of inaction while Azerbaijanis have blocked for many months a critical road connecting Armenia with Nagorno-Karabakh. Baku says the road blockade was for security reasons, and Armenia counters that the Azeris are creating a humanitarian crisis.

“We started discussing security issues with our Western partners because we see that the security system in the region is not working,” Pashinyan added, referring to recent efforts by the EU and the US to revive the peace process, but without remarkable success.

Russia will “continue dialogue with its Armenian friends” and discuss “joint participation in CSTO activities,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov assured reporters.

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