The Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) could not intervene in the Karabakh situation after statements made by Armenian leadership in Prague in 2022, Russian President Vladimir Putin said during a meeting with Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan.

“I think it is equally obvious that after you acknowledged in Prague in 2022 that Karabakh is part of Azerbaijan, it would have been completely inappropriate for the CSTO to intervene in this process, which had taken on an internal Azerbaijani dimension,” Putin said during the Russia-Armenia talks.

The Russian president called Karabakh the most sensitive issue.

“We know that both you and your colleagues have had, and continue to have, questions and some claims regarding the CSTO. We constantly return to this topic,” he said.

Putin also addressed the issue of Karabakh’s reintegration.

“If it is considered part of Azerbaijan, I am not judging this as good or bad from the standpoint of organizing peaceful life—I think, perhaps, there was a reason for this,” he added.