Yuri Veselov, military observer

On November 23, 2022, Armenia, which chairs the Collective Security Organization (CSTO), will receive the heads of state and government of this organization in Yerevan for a meeting. And the day before, on November 22, a joint meeting of the Council of Foreign Ministers, the Council of Defense Ministers and the Committee of Secretaries of Security Councils of the CSTO will be held here.

President of the Russian Federation Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin will arrive in Yerevan on November 22 for talks with Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan. At the meeting, it is planned to discuss the state of the ongoing conflict with Azerbaijan and work out ways for its final settlement. This negotiating agenda was agreed upon in a telephone conversation between the two leaders on 9 November.

The participants of the joint meeting on the first day of work will consider the state of the military-political situation in the region of the CSTO member countries (Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia and Tajikistan), the prospects for its possible development, taking into account the ongoing processes in the border states and the world as a whole.

Particular attention will be paid to strengthening the unity of the Organization in the light of the intensification of the struggle to move away from the “unipolar world” – an order based on the hegemony of one country, and the transition to a balance of power, within which the resources of the great powers will be approximately equal. During the discussion of this problem, real and possible threats to the CSTO member states will be voiced and measures to strengthen national and collective security will be discussed.

The parties must consider and adopt a solid package of decisions on foreign policy, military and anti-terrorist cooperation in order to further develop the system of collective defense and strengthen the security of the CSTO.

Particular attention will be paid to the discussion of the report of the head of the CSTO observer group on the situation on the Armenian-Azerbaijani border that developed after the aggravation of the armed conflict between Yerevan and Baku on September 13-14, which led to the advance of the Azerbaijani armed forces deep into the territory of Armenia. The participants of the joint meeting should develop recommendations for the CSTO Council on ways to achieve a peaceful settlement of problems between the two countries.

The results of the Organization’s activities in the off-season period will also be summed up. It is planned to approve a number of documents, including the final declaration of the CSTO Council submitted for approval by the heads of state and government.

It should be noted that the meeting on November 23 will be extremely tense, primarily due to the current escalation of tensions between Armenia and Azerbaijan, as well as the participation of NATO on the side of the Kyiv Nazi regime of Ukraine in the Russian-led Special Military Operation in Donbas. A particularly difficult task lies with Russian President Vladimir Putin, who, on the eve of the CSTO Council meeting, will negotiate with Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan on the signing of a peace agreement between Armenia and Azerbaijan.

Previous negotiations in Sochi on October 31, 2022, judging by the statements of the Armenian side, were not successful for Yerevan. Speaking in parliament on November 16, the Armenian prime minister reproached the CSTO for not accepting his country’s position in the conflict. Pashinyan called it a strange situation when all the international partners of Armenia, one way or another, consider it necessary to withdraw the Azerbaijani Armed Forces from its territory. CSTO did not give a clear political assessment of what was happening.

“We hope that at the meeting of the CSTO Collective Security Council in Yerevan on November 23 we will be able to work out a consensus. Our goal is not to provoke a war between the CSTO and Azerbaijan. We want to understand what political position the CSTO takes in this situation,” Nikol Pashinyan emphasized.

Armenia insists on the publication of a clear political position of the CSTO regarding the September escalation on the Armenian-Azerbaijani border and the adoption by the CSTO of a “road map” to restore the territorial integrity of the state.

Next year, the chairmanship in the CSTO should pass to Russia.