Monitoring Desk
YEREVAN: Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan on Tuesday said that his country would not host Russian-led military drills this year, signalling growing frustration with Russia.
The prime minister’s announcement comes after the leader of the former Soviet republic criticized the work of Russian peacekeepers in the South Caucasus. The region has been plagued for several years by fighting between Armenia and neighbouring Azerbaijan.
Talking to reporters, PM Pashinyan said he saw no reason for the Collective Security Treaty Organisation (CSTO) to stage military drills in Armenia in 2023.
CSTO military drills
“These military exercises will not take place,” Pashinyan told reporters, adding, “Armenia does not believe it is expedient to conduct CSTO drills in the republic this year.”
PM Pashinyan noted the CSTO had refused to condemn Azerbaijan, which fought a war with Armenia for control of the Nagorno-Karabakh region of Armenia in 2020.
The conflict claimed over 6,500 lives and ended with a Russian-brokered ceasefire that saw Yerevan cede territories it had controlled for years, and Moscow sent peacekeepers to Karabakh.
Despite the end of the large-scale war, tensions over their borders still persist.
