Alexey Mukhin: The line of conduct of the Armenian leadership is blackmail and sabotage

Russian political scientist Alexey Mukhin commented to Alpha News on the actions of the Armenian leadership regarding the CSTO, in particular the refusal of the Speaker of the Armenian Parliament, Alen Simonyan, to take part in a meeting of the Parliamentary Assembly of the CSTO member countries.

“In fact, the line of conduct of the Armenian leadership regarding the CSTO is definite. This line is called blackmail. On the one hand, Armenia, as we know, does not plan to leave the CSTO because this would put it in a very difficult international position. But on the other hand, blackmail is combined with sabotage.

Sabotage of meetings and official events of the CSTO is a kind of revenge of the Armenian leadership for the fact that the CSTO did not intervene in the situation in Nagorno-Karabakh. Although the CSTO simply had no legal grounds for this. The Armenian side, for obvious reasons, ignores this simple fact and tries to shift responsibility onto the CSTO, removing it from itself regarding the fact that Armenia did not prepare for the military operation carried out by Azerbaijan,” Mukhin said.

According to Mukhin, participation in CSTO meetings is essential, first of all, for Armenia itself in order to keep abreast of pressing issues.

“You know, the fact is that the CSTO for Armenia is a guarantee of maintaining security for its territory. People in Armenia understand this very well. But, on the other hand, Armenia’s non-participation in the meetings will not in any way affect the status of Armenia in the organization. And, probably, the Armenian authorities will simply be much less aware of what is happening with the CSTO and how the organization plans to develop, unfortunately for the Armenian leadership.

Perhaps this is a necessary condition to begin rapprochement with France, the United States, and other NATO member countries, simulating the possibility of placing the military bases of member countries on the territory of Armenia. Why do I say ‘simulating’? Because CSTO membership is in no way compatible with such acts,” Mukhin noted.

Mukhin is confident that reasonable perception of reality will prevail over the short-term desires of the Armenian leadership, and prudence will ultimately triumph.

“Unfortunately, there is no protection against the impulsive actions of the Armenian leadership. It may happen, but frankly, common sense and pragmatism dictate otherwise. They dictate that Armenia, in any scenario, remain part of the CSTO,” the political scientist concluded.