Secretary of Security Council Armen Grigoryan made a speech at the meeting of the CSTO Foreign Ministers, Defense Ministers, and joint sitting of the Security Council secretaries

15 / 09 / 2021

Today, Security Council Secretary Armen Grigoryan addresses a joint meeting of the CSTO Foreign Ministers, Defense Ministers, and Secretaries of the Security Councils in Dushanbe, Tajikistan. His speech referred to Armenia's forthcoming presidency in the Collective Security Treaty Organization, Armenia's priorities in the CSTO, as well as several important issues within the framework of the CSTO.

Armen Grigoryan presented the current situation in the Caucasus region by paying special attention to the latest developments around the Artsakh issue. The Secretary noted that Azerbaijan, among other things, continues to adopt a destructive approach and still refuses to return Armenian prisoners of war, hostages or other detainees, disregarding its obligations.

Referring to the policy pursued by Azerbaijan, the Secretary of the Security Council emphasized that Azerbaijan’s policy is provocative; he particularly emphasized that the Azerbaijani armed forces invaded the border areas of Armenia, a CSTO member state, on May 12. He expressed hope that the condemnation of encroachment on the sovereign territory and a common position adopted by the CSTO member states on this issue would have a sobering effect.

Armen Grigoryan noted that despite these difficulties, the Artsakh issue is waiting for its political solution, and in this context, he highlighted the importance of restarting the peace process in the format of the Minsk Group Co-Chairs. He hoped that the CSTO member states would also support the efforts of the Co-Chairs.

Referring to Armenia's priorities during the forthcoming presidency in the Collective Security Treaty Organization, Armen Grigoryan noted that Armenia attaches importance to the continuation of work aimed at developing common approaches around important international and regional agendas, which would be agreed upon by the CSTO member states and would take into account the interests of the member states.

Specifically, the Sectary highlighted the modernization of the CSTO’s crisis management mechanisms, including improving their preventive potential.