YEREVAN, SEPTEMBER 30, ARMENPRESS. Armenia expects a clear political assessment from the CSTO, PM Nikol Pashinyan said during an interview with Public Television in response to a question on Armenia’s membership to the organization.

“Recently as a result of contacts with several CSTO colleagues I recorded that within the CSTO it has been recorded that certain public moods grew very rapidly in Armenia. During a conversation someone said that there are fears that Armenia could leave the CSTO, but I formulated it otherwise, I responded that there are fears that the CSTO could leave Armenia,” Pashinyan said.

Pashinyan reminded that he is the presiding Chairman of the CSTO Collective Security Council.

“Most importantly, we expect a clear political assessment for the situation. In the past, when we’ve had discussions with CSTO colleagues on Armenia’s security, and the CSTO being Armenia’s number one institutional security instrument, we received very clear assurances that Armenia’s border is a red line for the CSTO. When the Sotk-Khoznavar events [Azeri incursion] took place last year, we naturally applied to the CSTO, but we received a very perplexing reaction, saying that the border isn’t demarcated or delimitated. A question emerged here, in that case where was that red line passing?” Pashinyan said.

He said Armenia clearly formulated the need for a clear response to this question.

“This is important not only for Armenia, but also for the CSTO, because to say that there is no border between Armenia and Azerbaijan would mean to say that there is no CSTO, because the CSTO has its area of responsibility, which is marked with borders. If there is no border, then there is no area of responsibility, then there is no responsibility, and subsequently there is no organization,” the PM said, adding that even the border between Belarus and Russia and the border between Azerbaijan and Russia aren’t demarcated.

“Now, when Azerbaijan is saying that the border between Armenia and Azerbaijan isn’t demarcated and that the border situation escalated because of this, does this mean that for example, hypothetically Azerbaijan could invade Russian territory or Russia could invade Azerbaijani territory and say that the border isn’t demarcated?”

Pashinyan stressed that the border exists between Armenia and Azerbaijan and these borders are the administrative borders of the Soviet Union which were re-defined as state borders in 1991 and approved by parliaments of Armenia and Azerbaijan.

“When people ask whether or not Armenia will leave the CSTO, this is a wrong terming. The question is the following, will the CSTO leave Armenia or not? Or will the CSTO affirm its area of responsibility, its red line in Armenia?” the PM said.

“The act of aggression against Armenia must be recorded and a clear roadmap for eliminating the act of aggression must be presented. And thus it must affirm the red line, which is affirmed de-jure, which is the cornerstone of the CSTO,” the PM said.