Armenian Deputy PM Tigran Avinyan today said that while the government wants to resolve the Syunik border situation peacefully, through negotiations, the country must be ready to defend its sovereign territory.

Avinyan, in a Facebook post, wrote that if negotiations fail, Armenia expects the support of its allies.

Here, Avinyan refers to the Russian-led Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) of which Armenia is a member.

Armenia has asked CSTO to invoke Article 2 of its founding treaty which commits the bloc to discussing a collective response to grave security threats facing its member states.