The Defense Ministry's "talking head"—the deputy head of the Main Military-Political Directorate of the Russian Armed Forces, also the commander of one of the "Akhmat" formations—has been promoting the idea of a global, joint confrontation between Russian Muslims and Christians against "Satanism" since the beginning of the Russian-Ukrainian war. He regularly finds himself in various scrapes: with the Zetniks, with nationalists, and with Orthodox priests. And the more he tries to "cross a snake and a hedgehog" with his obvious desire to be "one of the guys," the more harshly he is criticized from all sides.
CSTO Secretary General Imangali Tasmagambetov emphasized the organization's interest in Armenia's return to full membership. According to Armenian media reports, Tasmagambetov stated that the CSTO continues to consider Armenia an ally and expects its active participation to resume in the foreseeable future.
This statement comes amid Armenia's suspension of participation in the CSTO, which, according to the official, is the country's sovereign decision. He cited the Armenian Foreign Ministry's statement on its absence of plans to withdraw from the organization, as well as a similar statement by the country's Deputy Foreign Minister.
Earlier, Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan stated that the country's withdrawal from the pro-Russian Collective Security Treaty Organization was highly likely. He stated that this scenario is more likely than Yerevan's resumption of membership in the bloc. Last year, Pashinyan announced that Armenia had frozen its participation in the CSTO because The bloc creates threats to the country's security and its continued existence.