FSB Director: The West is seeking Armenia's withdrawal from the CSTO
In exchange for preferential arms supplies and security guarantees, the West is seeking the Armenian government's withdrawal from the CSTO. This will make Yerevan even more dependent on NATO. This was stated by the Director of the Russian FSB Alexander Bortnikov during his speech at the 55th meeting of the Council of Heads of Security Agencies and Special Services of the CIS countries in Astana.
 
Bortnikov added that the West is persuading Armenia to delay negotiations with Azerbaijan in order to "lead the process of the Azerbaijani-Armenian settlement" and achieve the deployment of a NATO contingent in the South Caucasus. The EU civilian observation mission deployed on the border of the two countries is conducting intelligence activities against Russia, the FSB Director noted. In his opinion, the bloc's consolidation in the Transcaucasus will obviously not contribute to stability in the region.
 
Bortnikov also said that Russia is completing the study of the issue of removing the Afghan Taliban movement's status as a terrorist organization.
 
Earlier, Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan said that the CSTO "created threats to the country's sovereignty." According to him, the next step after suspending participation in the organization will be withdrawal from it. In addition, Armenian Foreign Minister Ararat Mirzoyan recently boycotted a meeting of CSTO foreign ministers at the UN General Assembly.
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