Earlier today (7 January), the prime minster of Armenia, Nikol Pashinyan, and the Russian president, Vladimir Putin, held a phone conversation in which they discussed the situation in Kazakhstan and the deployment of CSTO troops.
According to the Armenian readout, Pashinyan and Putin began by exchanging Christmas greetings, before turning to the crisis in Kazakhstan, and “the implementation of joint steps within the CSTO”.
Armenia, which currently holds the chairmanship of the CSTO’s Collective Security Council, announced on 5 January that it had acceded to the call for military assistance issued by the Kazhakstani president, Kassym-Jomart Tokayev.
In a statement, Pashinyan announced that “in view of the threat to national security and sovereignty of the Republic of Kazakhstan” the CSTO would send troops to Kazhakstan as part of a “joint peacekeeping force”, for a “limited period of time” with the aim of restoring stability in the region. This is the first time that the CSTO has intervened military to support an ally, after turning down requests by Kyrgyzstan in 2010, and Armenia in 2021.