Russia calls on Armenia, instead of public attacks and criticism, to begin discussing the state of affairs in the CSTO. This was stated in an interview with RIA Novosti by Deputy Foreign Minister of the Russian Federation Alexander Pankin.

The diplomat noted that everyone is interested in further improving the activities of the CSTO and its effectiveness as a military-political union. “Of course, this would be facilitated by the speedy return of Armenia to normal and full-fledged work within the organization. Unfortunately, our Armenian allies have really distanced themselves from it so far,” Pankin noted.
 
In addition, the official representative of the Russian Foreign Ministry Zakharova said that “the countries remain allies, the interests of the Armenian people are inseparable from good neighborly ties with Russia.” The latter, in her words, hopes that “the Armenian leadership will take this into account and make the right choice.”

Earlier, Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan said that his country could no longer be a military partner of Russia. “We need to understand with whom we should develop military and military-technical cooperation. In the past there was no such question, just as there were no difficulties with the concept. In the past, Armenia's defense relations were 97% related to Russia. Now this cannot happen due to objective and subjective reasons,” Pashinyan said.

Lately, Pashinyan and members of his government have openly criticized the Kremlin. The latter was accused of the passivity of Russian peacekeepers during the last Karabakh war. In addition, Armenia expresses doubts about the advisability of membership in the CSTO, a post-Soviet analogue of NATO led by the Russian Federation.