Armenia’s Minister of Defense Arshak Karapetyan today received Secretary-General of the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) Stanislav Zas, who is on a working visit to Armenia, as reported the Armenian Ministry of Defense.

Greeting the guest, the defense minister particularly stated the following: “Armenia was expecting you to visit back in May. It was a rather tense period for Armenia, but unfortunately, you didn’t visit. Today the situation on our borders is stable, but difficult. In May, the Azerbaijani Armed Forces invaded Armenian territory in two directions. This extremely concerns us. We support peace. We don’t want escalation on our borders. At the same time, Armenia isn’t ready to put up with the actions that may lead to violation of the state border of Armenia. We will resolutely defend our territories. Of course, we seek to solve the issue peacefully, but at the same time, we can’t be patient forever, and if the situation on our borders isn’t solved peacefully, we will reserve ourselves the right to solve the issue by force.”

The defense minister also informed the CSTO Secretary-General about the conceptual approaches of the Armenian chairmanship in the CSTO, stressing that increase of effectiveness of the activities of the CSTO and the objectives for further development of the military component of the CSTO will be among the priorities of the Armenian side.

Stanislav Zas congratulated the defense minister of Armenia on assuming the high office. He also informed the defense minister that the joint sessions of the Ministers of Foreign Affairs and Defense and Committee of Secretaries of Security Councils of CSTO member states are scheduled to take place in Dushanbe on September 15, and on September 16, the chairmanship of the CSTO will be transferred to Armenia during the Assembly of the Collective Security Council.