All CSTO countries, except Armenia, consider Azerbaijan friendly country - Russian analyst

Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan raises the issue of the active involvement of CSTO (Collective Security Treatment) in the conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan on the side of Armenia, but absolutely all the CSTO countries, except Armenia, are against this, considering Azerbaijan a friendly country, Director of the Russian Institute for Political Studies Sergei Markov told Trend on November 23.

“To be honest, many do not like Armenia and Pashinyan himself because he makes advances to the US and the European Union, and can betray at any moment,” Markov said.

The analyst assumed that during the talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin, Pashinyan will raise the issue more strongly and that if Russia doesn’t increase help to Armenia, then it will speed up rapprochement with France and the US.

According to him, while the session of the Collective Security Council of the CSTO will be difficult, with a stable predictable result, the negotiations between the Russian president and Armenian prime minister with high probability can become fateful and after them, very significant decisions can be made which will affect the development of the situation in general.

"Of course, specific problems of a peaceful settlement will also be discussed at the meeting between Putin and Pashinyan. These are such problems as signing a peace agreement between Armenia and Azerbaijan so that Armenia recognizes the borders of Azerbaijan, including Karabakh,” Markov noted. “The second direction is the Zangazur transport corridor, the implementation of which is still hampered because of Armenia. The position of Russia on the Zangazur transport corridor is closer to the position of Azerbaijan.”

“Another issue is demarcation and delimitation of borders. Goodwill and technical solutions are also needed here, because, as a rule, demarcation and delimitation of borders take place when there is a well-functioning working group that finds solutions and compromises in each specific case," the analyst concluded.