YEREVAN, OCTOBER 23, ARMENPRESS. PM Nikol Pashinyan says immediately after taking office he has raised the issue of weapons supplies to Azerbaijan in the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO).

The PM was asked in parliament today by opposition MP Mikayel Melkumyan about Russia’s sales of weapons to Azerbaijan.

“I am raising the issue in the context that a CSTO member country is supplying weapons to a non-member country which has a conflict with another member country. The CSTO parliamentary assembly will take place in Yerevan November 4-5. For a few times I have also raised an issue in this hall that perhaps we should propose in some format for restrictions to exist in terms of strategic assault weapons,” Melkumyan said. “The executive and legislative branches must be able to coordinate their actions,” he added.

In response PM Nikol Pashinyan said he has raised this issue in CSTO immediately after becoming prime minister.

“We can say that we have a pan-national consensus in this issue because our emphases do not differ. The coordination is being done and if required it will be done more actively. But even without coordination our stances in this issue are the same,” the PM said.

Regarding Azerbaijan’s rhetoric, Pashinyan said he doesn’t believe that the Azerbaijani rhetoric has undergone substantial changes and this rhetoric is on the same position for at least the last 13 years.

“And this is the main problem. We are always calling on the Azerbaijani authorities to come into a constructive arena,” he added.

Edited and translated by Stepan Kocharyan