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The CSTO continues working on a monitoring mission to be sent to Armenia on the border with Azerbaijan, CSTO spokesman Vladimir Zaynetdinov told RBC.

According to him, after Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan made such a request to the CSTO, the Collective Security Council (CSC, the organization's highest body) developed a draft decision "On joint measures to assist the Republic of Armenia."

"In addition to providing Yerevan with other support," this would involve sending a temporary CSTO monitoring mission to the Armenian-Azerbaijani border and determine the size, mandate and timing of such a mission. The draft "is at a high level of readiness, but the document could not be adopted at the last session of the CSTO Collective Security Treaty Organization." "Work on it continues. Once the approval procedure is completed, the draft will be submitted for consideration by the organization's statutory bodies," Zaynetdinov noted, saying that it was premature to name specific numbers and timelines now.

"The decision about which the CSTO representative speaks was agreed at the organization's summit with the participation of heads of state in Yerevan in November. At that time, Pashinyan refused to approve the declaration of the Collective Security Council. The reason was that the allies refused to give a political assessment of Azerbaijan's actions against Armenia. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said at a Jan. 18 press conference that sending a mission should not be linked to Baku's condemnation. "If we are talking about condemnation, rhetoric, stating positions, then everyone is free to do whatever he wants. But if we want to send a CSTO mission, it is not conditioned by outward signs and tough statements," the minister said.

At the same time, on January 23 Foreign Ministers agreed to send a long-term monitoring mission to Armenia on the border with Azerbaijan. This is the second such decision. Before that, after Azerbaijani and French Presidents Ilham Aliyev and Emmanuel Macron, European Council President Charles Michel and Pashinyan met in Prague in early October, 40 civil experts were sent to the border from the Armenian side. They worked there for two months, until December 19. The current mission will begin tentatively in February and will last two years.

Moscow was not happy with such a development. Thus, Lavrov commented on Yerevan's agreements with Brussels on January 18, saying that the CSTO could have sent its mission to the border. "Nevertheless, despite the fact that we are allies and that the mission is fully ready, the Armenian side prefers to negotiate with the European Union for a civilian observer mission to be deployed there on a long-term basis," he said. This is Armenia's right, summed up the Minister, but the activity of experts needs consent of Azerbaijan, otherwise it "will be counterproductive" and "instead of confidence building on the border <...> may create additional irritants," the publication says.

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