CSTO won’t intervene in Karabakh escalation: military official

PanARMENIAN.Net - The Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) does not have the authority to intervene independently in a given conflict, including the one in Nagorno Karabakh, but it does have obligations to Armenia, the head of the CSTO Joint Staff, Colonel-General Anatoly Sidorov has said.

The CSTO representative said the organization has obligations to Armenia, and if the Armenian state is subjected to external aggression, the structure is obliged to provide military support and not only. However, the obligations do not apply to Karabakh, he said.

"Citizens of Armenia should be confident that the CSTO will not leave them in trouble," he said.

“But to this end, Armenia, like any other member state of the organization, must seek help itself. The CSTO does not have the authority to intervene independently in a given conflict, because it contradicts the principle of the sovereignty of states.”