A top official of the Russian-led Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) today said the potential of conflict on the Armenian-Azerbaijani border is high and a peace treaty is needed to settle the situation.

CSTO Joint Staff Andrey Serdyukov told TASS the West "seeks to influence the post-conflict settlement between Baku and Yerevan" despite Armenia's membership in the CSTO. "Even despite Armenia's membership in the organization, attempts to influence the post-conflict settlement format from outside continue."

Serdyukov singled out the West and the United States as the main security threats to CSTO, accusing them of disregarding the norms of international law and thus provoking conflicts along the “perimeter of the CSTO's zone of responsibility.”

Serdyukov accused unspecified western states of exploiting the conflict potential Armenian-Azerbaijani border to strengthen their positions in the South Caucasus and to gain access to the resources of the Caspian Sea.

"The attempts of individual states to strengthen their positions in the South Caucasus, to gain access to the resources of the Caspian Sea and to provide a direct exit to Central Asia are recorded. For this, the high conflict potential on the Armenian-Azerbaijani border is actively used. The conclusion of a peace treaty will be important for the further settlement of the situation," the official said, again only talking about the West, not about Azerbaijani encroachments on Armenian sovereign territories.

Serdyukov said such challenges require strengthening the military potential of CSTO.

Six post-Soviet states (Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, and Tajikistan) comprise the military alliance formed in 2002.

Armenian PM Nikol Pashinyan has criticized CSTO for not fulfilling its obligations  in response to Azerbaijani military aggression against sovereign Armenian territory.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, on January 18, claimed that Azerbaijan is ready to sign a peace treaty with Armenia, in Russia, but Yerevan's position remains uncertain.

"Our Western partners want a peace treaty to be signed only on their territory (between Armenia and Azerbaijan - ed.), that's a fact. The fact that Azerbaijan is ready to sign it on Russian territory, where, in fact, the efforts to end the conflict and to build the entire system of cooperation on the settlement of all issues have begun, is also a fact. I don't know to what extent Yerevan is ready for this, although the relevant signals were sent to the capital of Armenia a long time ago," Lavrov said.

Photo: Armenian President's Press Service