Secretary of the Security Council of Armenia, Armen Grigoryan, on Wednesday addressed the joint meeting of the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) Foreign Ministers, Defense Ministers, and Security Council Secretaries—in Dushanbe, the capital of Tajikistan.

Grigoryan drew special attention to the latest developments on the Artsakh (Nagorno-Karabakh) issue. The secretary of Armenia’s Security Council noted that Azerbaijan continues to show a destructive approach and, among other things, still refuses to return the Armenian prisoners of war, captives and other detainees—ignoring its own obligations.

Also, the head of Armenia's Security Council stressed that the policy pursued by Azerbaijan is obviously provocative; especially pointing out that since May 12, the Azerbaijani armed forces have invaded the border areas of Armenia, which is a CSTO member state.

Grigoryan noted that despite these difficulties, however, the Artsakh issue is waiting for its political solution and, in this context, highlighted the resumption of the Karabakh peace process in the format of the OSCE Minsk Group co-chairs, and expressing hope that the CSTO member states will also assist the respective efforts of these co-chairs.

And touching upon Armenia's priorities during its forthcoming chairmanship in the CSTO, Armen Grigoryan said that Armenia underscores the continuation of work to form approaches agreed upon by the CSTO member states on agendas of international and regional importance—and which will take into account the interests of these member states.