If Armenia had signed the document on deploying a CSTO monitoring mission it would have gotten a more stable situation, according to Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov.
The document, which was prepared ahead of the CSTO Yerevan summit in 2022 upon Armenia’s request, had been “entirely agreed upon on the foreign ministerial level”, Lavrov said in a televised interview.
“And then, at the last moment, during the summit, our Armenian friends asked to postpone its adoption. It’s still on paper up to this day, and it’s not implemented. Had Yerevan approved it, which was already agreed upon, and stood ready to sign it for implementation, I am sure that Armenia would have benefited and gotten a more stable situation,” Lavrov said.
Armenia did not sign the document because it did not contain an assessment to the Azerbaijani attack on Armenia in September 2022 and called for amending it.
On 20 April, 2023, Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan said Armenia was ready for the CSTO deployment.
Lavrov also expressed the opinion that Washington forces the Armenian side to refuse the services of Russian border guards and instead promises to ensure Armenia's security.
