Envoy: Russian posts were deployed at Pashinyan’s request

PanARMENIAN.Net - Observation posts of Russian border guards were deployed on the border of Armenia and Azerbaijan at the personal request of Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan, Russian Ambassador Sergei Kopyrkin said in an interview with 24News.

“I won’t even mention our observation posts that, at the personal request of Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan, were placed at Russian expense along the border with Azerbaijan to help stabilize the situation in 2020,” Kopyrkin said. He added that the Armenian side “never decided to legalize the deployment of Russian observation posts.”

Kopyrkin emphasized that “quite a lot of money was spent from the Russian state budget” on the deployment of border guards in Armenia. Commenting on the statement by the Speaker of the Armenian Parliament Alen Simonyan that Russia allowed Azerbaijan to attack Armenia, the ambassador said that Russia “did not allow a catastrophe” when the situation was quite difficult.

“I’m not saying that Russia cannot be criticized. We say to the Armenian side, let’s discuss in an atmosphere of trust what steps we can take including regarding the CSTO [Collective Security Treaty Organization] so that Armenia feels more secure,” the diplomat added.

In February, Pashinyan said that Armenia had effectively frozen its participation in the CSTO. The prime minister warned that Yerevan would leave the organization if the CSTO did not clarify its position on the conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan. He accused the structure of inaction amid territorial disputes between the two countries.