News - Russia MP: Armenia's possible leaving CSTO will only affect the country

The possible decision of Armenia to leave the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) will not affect this organization's defense capability, Andrey Kartapolov, Chairman of the Committee on Defense of the Russian State Duma, told RIA Novosti. "This will only affect Armenia's defense capability and nothing else; so, of course, this decision is of the Armenian side. But the fact is that, unfortunately, the decision will be made by Armenia’s current leadership, which is not guided by the interests of the Armenian people; this is a tragedy," added Kartapolov. According to him, Russia hopes that common sense will prevail among the Armenian people, not the country's leadership. Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan had announced that the next logical step after membership freeze will be Armenia’s leaving the CSTO. According to him, theoretically the situation around the CSTO can change if Belarus decides to leave the CSTO, or the Belarusian president "finds words of apology that will be acceptable to the Armenian people".