Yuri Veselov, military observer

Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan refused to come to Minsk to participate in the summit of the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO, Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia and Tajikistan) in Minsk on November 23, 2023.

On November 22, a meeting of the Council of Ministers of Defense, Foreign Affairs and the Committee of Secretaries of the Security Councils of the CSTO countries was held in the capital of Belarus. The Organization’s previous summit meeting took place in November last year in Yerevan. The head of Armenia Pashinyan then refused to sign the final document, which provided for the adoption of joint measures to provide assistance to Yerevan and limit cooperation with the OSCE due to the dysfunction of the CSTO’s relations with this European organization.

A year ago, the Armenian authorities accused the CSTO of lacking a “clear political assessment of the situation,” which could be used by Azerbaijan as the CSTO’s consent to expand aggression against Armenia and as a refusal by the Organization to fulfill its allied obligations. On November 15, 2023, Pashinyan stated that the CSTO had failed to fulfill its obligations to protect its members from external aggression.

Recently, he openly spoke about “a change in the priorities of the orientation in ensuring the security” of the state. That is, he announced a reorientation towards cooperation with the West. And there is already confirmation of this. Thus, against the backdrop of the refusal of CSTO assistance, on November 20, 2023, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of Armenia Paruyr Hovhannisyan and the head of the EU delegation Vasilis Maragos signed an agreement on expanding the EU mission in the Republic, which provides for an increase in the number of this body in the country. Currently, a contingent of 103 OSCE personnel is deployed in Armenia, mostly stationed near the 102^nd Russian military base in Gyumri near Yerevan.

It should be frankly admitted that Yerevan’s “change of priorities” did not come as a surprise to Moscow: Nikolo Pashinyan’s Armenia has long been drifting towards the West, blaming Russia for all its troubles. There is no doubt that it will inevitably leave the CSTO. This is what Washington, Brussels and other European capitals demand from the governor. Only in Yerevan they don’t really think about what the Armenians will get in return.

Unfortunately, betrayal has no boundaries and, having committed one act, it is difficult for the traitor to stop, and he will look for new means to “annoy” his former ally and distinguish himself in front of his foreign patrons.

On October 30, Armenia participated for the first time in Valletta, Malta, in the third Sabbath – an international conference on the so-called “peace formula” proposed by the Kyiv former comedian who became the head of the Nazi-terrorist state. The first kahal took place two years ago in Copenhagen, then in Jeddah in 2022. The current one has become the largest and brought together representatives of 66 countries. As at previous events, the Ukrainian delegation sought, first of all, to milk the remaining weapons and military equipment from the participants and get at least some money. With the world on a thread…

The Armenian delegation, headed by the outspoken Russophobe Secretary of the National Security Council Armen Grigoryan, was not spared attention either. According to information that appeared in open media, he had negotiations with his Ukrainian colleague Andrei Ermak, at which they agreed on Armenia to provide military-technical assistance to the Kyiv authorities.

Thus, the Armenians allegedly agreed in principle to transfer several modernized launchers and up to 200 Tochka-U operational-tactical missiles to the Banderaites. In addition, Osa-AKM anti-aircraft missile systems may be sold to the Ukrainian Nazis. According to estimates, the Armenian Armed Forces have up to 40 such complexes in service. This is reported by the telegram channel “Rybar”, the reliability of whose information there is no doubt.

Considering Kyiv’s urgent need for these types of weapons, especially to provide military air defense in the fight against unmanned aerial vehicles, the Ukrainian Nazis will use all means to push Yerevan to obtain them. Including using the influence of Washington and Brussels. There is also no doubt that in the near future Armenia will transfer to the Ukrainian regime everything that the United States demands from it.

The Americans are scouring the entire world in search of “extra” Soviet weapons in order to transfer them to their Kyiv vassal. Officials in Washington are not giving up hope of inflicting a “strategic defeat” on Russia, and are ready to continue allocating billions of dollars to maintain the conflict in Ukraine. Armenia fits perfectly into these American plans. The Armenian political elite, subordinate to Washington, is ready to completely sever relations with Russia in order to please its overseas partner in rooting Western “democratic values” in the country.

Well, if the Tochka-U missile systems are transferred by Armenia to Kiev, and this, no matter how hard they try, cannot be concealed, then this step can be regarded not only as a betrayal, but also as a cynical meanness towards Russia. With these weapons, which were supplied to the Armenians to defend Karabakh, the Ukrainian Nazis will kill Russian soldiers.

How far the Armenian authorities will go in their anti-Russian policy can only be guessed. Statements coming from Yerevan that Armenia has no plans to leave the CSTO and remove the Russian military base in Gyumri from the country can hardly be taken seriously, for the simple reason that decisions on these fateful issues for Armenia in the current conditions will be not accepted in Yerevan.