YEREVAN -- Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian has said any decision about Yerevan's continued membership in the Russian-led Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) will be based on "its own state interests" after he declined to attend the current summit in Minsk.
During a live question-and-answer TV program with the public on November 24, Pashinian also said the country was looking for options to reduce its outstanding financial debt to Russia by several means, including using the payments it has made for weapons that Moscow has failed to deliver.
"We will focus on the state interests of Armenia, and if we have or haven't made any decision at this moment, our benchmark is the state interests of Armenia," Pashinian said during an almost nine-hour-long broadcast when asked by a caller why Yerevan remained a member of the CSTO defense bloc.
"At the moment, our records show that the CSTO's de facto actions or inaction do not address its obligations toward the Republic of Armenia, that is, in this sense, the CSTO's actions are not in line with Armenia's interests. And we raise this issue in a transparent way," Pashinian added.
The Pashinian government has long criticized the CSTO for its "failure to respond to the security challenges" facing Armenia.
Political analyst Areg Kochinian said Pashinian’s latest remarks were not yet an announcement of "withdrawal" from the CSTO, but rather preparation for a possible move to make "some qualitative changes in the security architecture of Armenia."
Armenia has long been a close ally of Russia but -- angered in part by what it saw as a lack of support from Moscow during the 2020 war in Nagorno-Karabakh and subsequent border clashes with Azerbaijan -- has in recent months taken steps to distance itself from that alliance.
Armenia drew criticism from Moscow earlier this month after Pashinian said he would not attend the CSTO summit in Minsk.
SEE ALSO: Armenia Says No Intention Of Quitting Russian-Led CSTO Despite Summit SnubOther Armenian officials also declined to participate in events held by the CSTO, which also includes Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, and Tajikistan, but a senior official in Yerevan on November 23 said Armenia nevertheless was not considering quitting the CSTO.
A caller also asked Pashinian why his government wasn't considering the reversal of a controversial deal that Russia made with Yerevan in the early 2000s to take possession of some of Armenia's lucrative strategic assets in exchange for the South Caucasus country's debt.
Pashinian said Armenia was looking at several options to reduce its debt to Russia, including the use of payments it has made for weapons that Moscow has failed to deliver.
Pashinian and other Armenian officials have spoken about "hundreds of millions of dollars" transferred to Moscow as part of arms contracts that remained unfulfilled amid Russia's continuing war against Ukraine.
One caller asked Pashinian why his government would not consider the reversal of a controversial deal that Russia made with Armenia in the early 2000s to take possession of some of Armenia's lucrative strategic assets in exchange for the South Caucasus country's debt.
The Armenian prime minister gave no figures, but again confirmed that there were problems with Russia fulfilling its arms contracts with Armenia.
He said reducing Armenia's debt to Russia could be one of the mechanisms of settling the issue, but that there were other options as well.
"We know that Russia itself needs weapons. In this context, we expect to settle this issue in a routine working manner. I hope that our discussions will lead to concrete results," Pashinian said.