Putin meets Pashinyan on the sidelines of CSTO in Yerevan

Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan met on Wednesday with Russian President Vladimir Putin on the sidelines of the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) summit that was held in Armenia’s capital Yerevan amid protests calling for an exit from the organization due to its lack of help in the conflict with Azerbaijan.

The mood in the country echoed in its leader's refusal to sign a draft declaration of the summit because of an absence in the declaration of a political assessment of “Azerbaijan's aggression against the territorial integrity of Armenia.”

During his meeting with Putin, Pashinyan said that many decisions were made at a session of the CSTO Collective Security Council but they could not agree on some issues.

He further said that he touched on issues related to the implementation of the tripartite agreement that was signed between Armenia and Azerbaijan under Russian patronage during the session of the CSTO council.

Pashinyan also deplored the inefficacy of the CSTO during his speech.

"Right up to today we have not managed to reach a decision regarding CSTO’s response to Azerbaijan’s aggression against Armenia. These facts do grave harm to the reputation of the CSTO both inside our country and outside its borders, and I consider this the main failure of Armenia’s chairmanship of the CSTO," he said.

Putin also gave signs of discord saying “it is rarely possible to reach an agreement on all issues, but overall, the work was very intensive and useful.”

Earlier, during a photo-op of the summit, Armenian Prime Minister seemed willing to stand as far as possible from the Russian leader.

Oh my. Look at the prime minister of Armenia Pashinyan going out of his way to stand as far as possible from Putin. And Putin knows it, too. Insult to the injury, this is at the gathering of the supposedly Russia-led security bloc. pic.twitter.com/KNCWjKNAHV

— Bakhti Nishanov (@b_nishanov) November 23, 2022