Simonyan: Yerevan's purchase of weapons outside the CSTO bloc is a "diplomatic victory"

Speaker of the Armenian Parliament Alen Simonyan said that his country's purchase of weapons from outside the CSTO bloc is a "diplomatic victory."

"I believe that the international direction is one of the most successful in our policy. This is unprecedented: for a CSTO member state to receive weapons or even one cartridge from a country that is not a member of this organization. This is not just a supply - it is a political message. It does not matter what exactly is transferred, the action itself is important," Simonyan explained.

He also added that Armenia does not intend to return to the trilateral format with the Russian Federation and Azerbaijan to unblock communications.

In June 2024, Secretary of the Russian Security Council Armen Grigoryan reported that Russia's share in the structure of arms and military equipment supplies to Armenia fell from the previous 96% to less than 10%. He emphasized that this happened due to the fault of the Russian Federation itself. The main suppliers of weapons for Armenia were France and India, as well as a number of European countries.

The Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) is a regional international organization created to "protect the independence, sovereignty and territorial integrity" of its member states. The bloc includes the Russian Federation, Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan. Since last year, Armenia has not actually participated in the activities of the CSTO.

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