Following Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan’s statement today that he believes a scheduled CSTO joint military exercises in Armenia in 2023 would be “inappropriate” given the continued closure of the Lachin Corridor, TASS reports that the Russian-backed military alliance is now planning to hold the exercise in another CSTO country.

CSTO Press Secretary Vladislav Shegrikovich, according to TASS, said the Armenian Ministry of Defense had informed the CSTO Joint Staff that the military exercise, with CSTO peacekeepers, would not be proper at this time.

Pashinyan has criticized CSTO for failing to respond to Azerbaijani military incursions into sovereign Armenian territory.

Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia and Tajikistan are members of CSTO (Collective Security Treaty Organization).

Photo: Sputnik/Mikhail Voskresenski