YEREVAN. Feb 28 (Interfax) - Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan's statement on freezing participation in the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) is a political evaluation, not a legal one, Sargis Khandanyan, chairman of the parliamentary Standing Commission on Foreign Relations, said.
"The prime minister's statement means the current situation at this stage in relations with the CSTO. And the situation is that there is no progress in relations between Armenia and the CSTO and Armenia has not been involved in the CSTO work lately," Khandanyan told reporters on Wednesday. "Bearing in mind the position stated by us more than once on the work or lack thereof of the CSTO, the prime minister's statement specifically registers the situation, namely, that relations with the CSTO are frozen at this stage. Time will show whether or not actions will follow," he said.
It is not a legal evaluation, he said.
"It's a political evaluation. It's a form of commenting on the current situation," Khandanyan said.
Responding to a question on whether Armenia will decide to withdraw from the CSTO, Khandanyan said, "Time will show. Nothing binds us. If this decision needs to be made tomorrow, it will be made. A decision will be made as a result of an evaluation of the situation and time."
Pashinyan told France 24 television on February 23 that the "CSTO's reaction did not match the reality in relation to Armenia, particularly in 2021 and 2022, and that obviously could not go unnoticed by Armenia".
"We have now practically frozen our participation in this treaty, in this organization. As for what comes next [...], we'll see," Pashinyan said.
The Kremlin said it intends to fully clarify Yerevan's position on the issue of its participation in the CSTO. Russian presidential press secretary Dmitry Peskov told reporters the organization's charter does not envisage such status as "frozen membership."