CSTO secretariat has no notice from Yerevan about canceling drills in Armenia

• 01.11.2023, 16:17
•  World,  Armenia

The secretariat of the Collective Security Treaty Organization hasn’t received any official notice from Yerevan that the Indestructible Brotherhood-2023 exercises in Armenia were canceled, the organization’s spokesman Vladimir Zainetdinov told TASS on Wednesday.

"The plan for the joint training of governing agencies and CSTO collective security forces and means for 2023 that has been approved by the Defense Ministers Council and the Committee of Security Councils Secretaries stipulates holding the Indestructible Brotherhood-2023 exercises with the CSTO peacekeeping forces on the territory of the Republic of Armenia. The need for holding these drills on the Armenian soil during the current year has earlier been confirmed by Yerevan. As of this moment, the CSTO secretariat hasn’t received any official notices from the Armenian side, in accordance with the procedures that are established by the organization, about the cancellation of these exercises," the organization said.

"We treat with understanding the situation that has emerged in the Republic of Armenia today, which may make it impossible to fully hold the scheduled CSTO peacekeeping exercises this year," the CSTO said.

Zainetdinov said the secretariat and the Joint Staff are doing their best "so that the plans for the battle training of troops (collective forces), which have been approved by the organization’s organs that are authorized to do so by its charter, are carried out to the full extent with the purpose of raising their readiness in the interests of ensuring the security of CSTO member states."

Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan said at a news conference on Tuesday that Armenia wasn’t going to hold any CSTO exercises in 2023. Vladislav Shchegrikovich, a spokesman for the organization’s Joint Staff, said proposals are being developed for the possibility to hold the joint exercises with the peacekeeping forces in 2023 not in Armenia, but on the territory of some other member states.