Armenian political analysts treat CSTO's intervention into conflict with Azerbaijan as unlikely

The countries of the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) will not enter into confrontation with Azerbaijan over Armenia, but one can hope that the Kremlin will persuade Baku to pull back the troops, the Yerevan political analysts interviewed by the "Caucasian Knot" believe.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that on May 12, Azerbaijani militaries advanced three kilometres deep into the Syunik Region of Armenia and, according to the administration of the city of Goris, tried to gain a foothold in the area of Black Lake. The next day, the Azerbaijani militaries again tried to advance deep into the Syunik Region, but were stopped, the Armenian Ministry of Defence (MoD) has informed.

The CSTO member states, including Russia, will not spoil relations with Azerbaijan because of Armenia, Armen Vardanyan, a political analyst, believes. It's not worth creating illusions that the CSTO will stand up for Armenia, he has noted.

The CSTO was created to serve Russian geopolitical interests, not Armenian ones; in this structure the Kremlin decides on everything, the political analyst told the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent.

Nevertheless, Mr Vardanyan does not rule out that Russia will take measures to force Azerbaijan to move away from its current positions.

Akop Badalyan, a political observer, also doubts that Russia will react harshly to the confrontation in Syunik. "While Russia is in a state of cold war with the West, it needs Turkey and Azerbaijan and will not make statements that could lead to tensions with Ankara and Baku," the political observer has explained.

This article was originally published on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’ on May 15, 2021 at 00:40 am MSK. To access the full text of the article, click here.