News - Armenia parliament speaker to not attend CSTO event in December

There is a CSTO event in December; I also will not participate. Armenian National Assembly (NA) speaker Alen Simonyan stated this in a briefing with reporters in the NA, answering the question why Armenian Defense Minister Suren Papikyan and Foreign Minister Ararat Mirozyan are not attending CSTO events. "Armenia has not decided to withdraw from the CSTO, but I believe my participation in this situation is inappropriate. Now the situation is that the CSTO, in fact, does not and has not fulfilled its obligations [to Armenia] in any way. What am I supposed to do if I go there?” Simonyan said. When asked why he gets into the “car”—meaning that Armenia remains a member of the CSTO—if it does not move him from point A to point B, Simonyan responded as follows: "I'm going to try to get that ‘car’ working somehow, as I don't have another ‘car’ at the moment." The NA speaker said that Armenia’s relations with the CSTO are not frozen in any way. "I informed them that I will not participate; no response yet, at least. I believe there won't be a reaction either because I'm sure they also understand the reasons for not participating. The [armed] forces of a third country [i.e. Azerbaijan] invaded the territory of the [CSTO member] sovereign country of Armenia, and the CSTO did not even give a political assessment. What are we [Armenia] supposed to do by going there?" commented Simonyan. He added: "I believe it is now the CSTO's turn here. The [other] CSTO countries should react, instead of living in an imaginary bubble that there is their reality and there is a reality in which we live, and these realities do not coincide at all. We are saying Armenia is not getting ready to leave the CSTO, but we fear that it is the CSTO that is leaving Armenia. With their actions, their statements, their speech they prove that, indeed, that organization has a problem." According to the speaker of the Armenian parliament, they have the impression that the CSTO is sending a mission, but they do not specify where they will send it. Earlier, Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan also announced that he will not participate in the CSTO summit scheduled for Thursday.