STEPANAKERT. – Even though there are problems and disagreements within the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO), Armenia’s membership in it is justified.
Vice President of the National Assembly of Armenia, Eduard Sharmazanov, on Tuesday stated about the aforementioned at a press conference in Stepanakert, the capital city of the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic (NKR/Artsakh).
To note, the Sharmazanov-led Armenian delegation took part in the observation mission on Monday’s constitutional referendum in Artsakh.
He recalled that the military and political leadership of Armenia has repeatedly stated that there are CSTO allies which do not act like an ally.
“The President [of Armenia] spoke about this, after the events in [early] April [2016, when Azerbaijan had unleashed a large-scale military aggression against Karabakh],” noted the deputy speaker of the Armenian parliament, when asked about the position of Belarus in the case involving blogger Alexander Lapshin.
Sharmazanov said he likewise believes that the secret to success within any organization is unity on key issues.
“Our [i.e. Armenia’s] membership [in the CSTO] is justified,” he noted. “Yes, there are problems, but cooperation needs to deepen.”
Eduard Sharmazanov added, however, that the CSTO is not the sole international organization where there is controversy.
“We have sounded our position on the deal of Belarus and Azerbaijan [regarding Lapshin],” stressed the vice president of the Armenian parliament. “It’s a shady deal that does not correspond to the spirit of pacific settlement of the [Karabakh] conflict.”
In December 2016, Israeli Russian blogger Alexander Lapshin was detained in the Belarusian capital city of Minsk. The reason was his being on the international wanted persons’ list, due to a search which Azerbaijan had declared. Baku accuses him of visiting Nagorno-Karabakh (Artsakh) without its consent.
And on February 7 of the current year, Belarus extradited the blogger to the Azerbaijani capital city of Baku, where he was taken into custody.
