Speaking about the CSTO, Pashinyan ‘targets Russia’: Konstantin Zatulin

Konstantin Zatulin, the first deputy chair of the State Duma Committee on CIS Affairs, told RTVI that Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan’s criticism of the CSTO is an “unequivocal challenge” to Russia.

Earlier, at the Global Armenian Summit, Pashinyan stated that the CSTO poses a threat to Armenia’s security and sovereignty. According to Zatulin, the Prime Minister of Armenia says almost the same thing he said many years ago, when “no one considered him a serious political figure.”

“He was a marginal journalist and even then, insisted that Armenia stop focusing on Russia, withdraw from the CSTO, remove the base in Gyumri and so on. He stated this as an oppositionist, to whom few people listened. When he became prime minister in 2018, there was a short period of false assurances of friendship, and now he has returned to himself,” Zatulin noted.

Pashinyan’s criticism is an “unequivocal challenge” to Russia, which prefers not to respond in the same tone in order not to “lower the bar of this discussion,” the MP said. Zatulin noted that the CSTO still considers Armenia a member of the association and continues to cooperate with it.

“But we should not bury our heads in the sand. We should understand what Mr. Pashinyan is implying, what he is pulling Armenia towards. What matters is the effect that Mr. Pashinyan has on the Armenian people all over the world, as the main Armenian, as some believe. He challenges us, claiming that we are plotting against Armenia; in this case, the CSTO is just a figure of speech,” Zatulin added.

According to him, speaking about the CSTO, Pashinyan “targets Russia” because “everyone understands that the CSTO is a form of Russia’s self-expression in the defense area.”

“He stands against Russia without hiding his true intentions. He seeks to ensure that Russian influence in Armenia and the Caucasus is minimal. This is what enemies and opponents do, especially when we are conducting military operations, confronting the West, and so on. And this should be clear to everyone, so that there is not even a desire to inflate a scandal about this. I am against us reacting to every sneeze. We need to draw internal conclusions about the nature of Pashinyan’s government and himself—that’s all,” the Russian MP concluded.