MOSCOW. May 22 (Interfax) - Moscow believes that the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) has vast development potential and will continue the dialogue with Armenia on its further membership in this organization, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said.
"On the whole, the CSTO is an organization that has authority and member states. This organization has proven efficient in various situations, this is an organization, which, from our point of view, has strong potential for further development," Peskov said in response to a request for comment on Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan's statement, which said that Armenia was still considering its withdrawal from the CSTO and the item remained on the agenda. Journalists also asked Peskov how effective the military-political organization had been.
"As for the statement by the Armenian prime minister, we will definitely continue dialogue with our Armenian friends. We will also speak with them on the subject of our further joint participation in the CSTO activity," Peskov said.
Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan said earlier on Monday that the issue of Armenia's withdrawal from the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) remains relevant. "Should Armenia decide to withdraw from the CSTO de jure, that will happen as a result of the understanding that the CSTO is withdrawing from Armenia. When I speak about the CSTO's withdrawal from Armenia, I imply the Organization's commitments to Armenia," Pashinyan said at a press conference on Monday.
"I would not say that the item has been taken off the agenda. It has not, because there is still an issue to be discussed. The discussion of this issue is continuing," Pashinyan said. "I cannot rule out the possibility of Armenia's de jure withdrawal from the CSTO or a freeze on its membership. However, that will happen only if we see the CSTO's withdrawal from Armenia. Look - there has been constant talk about reasons why a CSTO monitoring mission does not visit Armenia, about the reason for that. We speak about that in a transparent manner," he said.