Today, May 21, an anti-Russian rally was held in the capital of Armenia in connection with the visit of Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov. It is reported that the protest was organized by representatives of the "For the Republic" party. Demonstrators gathered with posters near the building of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, where Lavrov met with Armenian diplomat Ararat Mirzoyan.

Speaking at a briefing, Lavrov said that he sees no reason for the "Ukrainization" of Armenia, since the republic is an ally of Russia. He also answered a question about Moscow's arms supplies to Azerbaijan.

"Armenia has used Russian weapons all the years since gaining independence, including to seize seven regions that it did not claim. Not a single leader of Armenia has proposed recognizing Nagorno-Karabakh as an independent entity," the Russian Foreign Minister said.

According to him, the CSTO responded appropriately to the military conflict on the Armenian-Azerbaijani border in September 2022. Lavrov recalled that immediately after these events, the organization's advance mission, headed by the Secretary General, went to the scene, then proposed sending an observer mission to stabilize the situation.

Recall that in 2024, Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan announced the freezing of Armenia's participation in the CSTO. Later, the Foreign Ministry reported that the country would not participate in financing the bloc. Yerevan also stopped purchasing weapons from Russia in 2021.

The Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) is a regional international organization created to "protect the independence, sovereignty and territorial integrity" of its member states. The bloc includes the Russian Federation, Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan. Since last year, Armenia has not actually participated in the activities of the CSTO.