CSTO Secretary-General Imangali Tasmagambetov (center) visits Jermuk on Mar. 16
The Collective Security Treaty Organization said it is ready to revisit discussions on the possible deployment of a monitoring mission along the Armenia-Azerbaijan border and is awaiting a response from Yerevan, a Russian foreign ministry official said.
“The CSTO member states have never abandoned their efforts for stabilizing the situation in the region and have numerously affirmed readiness to find concrete solutions that would allow our Armenian friends to utilize the organization’s broad possibilities with maximum benefit,” Mikayel Aghasandyan, the Head of the First Department of the CIS Countries at the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, told RIA Novosti on Wednesday.
“We are still waiting for a positive response from Yerevan and stand ready to resume substantive work around the proposal to deploy a CSTO monitoring mission in Armenia’s border regions, as well as other joint actions to help our ally,” he added.
Moscow believes that “making the relevant decisions would have a positive impact on the general regional situation, the official said.
“I repeat, we are ready for such constructive work,” he added.
The Russian foreign ministry official also said that the CSTO, like any other international organization, is not a “magic wand” for solving every problem.
“The Nagorno-Karabakh conflict is one of the most complicated [conflicts], it has deep historical roots. Consistent normalization of the Armenian-Azerbaijani relations based on negotiations, mutual respect between the parties, readiness to compromise, make responsible decisions and implement them is the only path towards sustainable resolution. In this context, I must mention the key mediation role of Russia and personally President Vladimir Putin in this process,” Aghasandyan said.