Armenia shows great respect for the decisions of the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) and the CSTO Parliamentary Assembly (PA). Anatoly Vyborny, Chairman of the Standing Committee on Defense and Security of the CSTO PA and Deputy Chairman of the Russian State Duma Committee on Security and Anti-Corruption, stated this during a videoconference—and in response to a question about Armenia not participating in CSTO bodies’ activities.

“From an interparliamentary perspective, our [Armenian] partners, on the one hand, do not participate in events, yet at the same time Armenia has stated that it does not oppose any of the decisions being made. How do we view this? Today the whole world sees that the CSTO, the CSTO Parliamentary Assembly are the only platforms in the world where decisions are made solely by goodwill, there is no pressure at all. We show extreme respect for the decisions of our partners, and there are no complaints. And Armenia is very respectful toward the decisions we make; this is extremely important,” the Russian lawmaker said.

And in response to the question on whether Armenia’s such dependent position is connected to its peace process with Azerbaijan and how long such a situation might continue, Vyborny emphasized that the CSTO is committed to resolving all issues exclusively by peaceful means. According to him, both Azerbaijan and Armenia are aware of this. At the same time, Vyborny recalled the contributions made in the early 1990s, after the collapse of the USSR, in the process of conflict resolution. “We are ready to continue contributing in the future as well so that people are not killed and all issues are resolved exclusively by peaceful means. How long this will take depends on Armenia,” the Russian MP concluded.