The secretary of the Security Council of Armenia, Armen Grigoryan, yesterday (5 July) spoke on the phone with the secretary-general of the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO), Stanislav Zas. On Saturday (3 July) Zas gave the CSTO’s assessment that the ongoing situation on the Armenian-Azerbaijani border did not fall under the provisions of the organisation’s collective security treaty.
After Zas gave his congratulations on the successfully conducted Armenian elections of 20 June, Grigoryan expressed concern in connection with some formulations and assessments outlined by Zas over the border situation. He questioned the CSTO’s assessment of the situation as a “border incident” due to the amount of time Azerbaijani troops had spent on Armenian territory. The readout by the Armenian Security Council reports that whilst taking into account that the actions of the Azerbaijani side are an “obvious attempt to seize a part of the sovereign territory of the Republic of Armenia”, Grigoryan stressed that it is necessary to show restraint in the formulations at the level of the CSTO Secretariat in order not to jeopardise constructive efforts to resolve the situation.
At the end of the conversation, Grigoryan highlighted the importance of organising a visit for the CSTO Secretariat for them to familiarise themselves with the situation on the border.
Since 12 May, Armenia has accused Azerbaijani troops of an incursion into Armenian sovereign territory in its Syunik and Gegharkunik regions. Azerbaijan maintains that its troops are on Azerbaijani territory in line with maps available to both sides. On 14 May, the Armenian prime minister, Nikol Pashinyan, formally appealed to the CSTO to trigger article 2 of the collective security treaty over what he described as a provocation “fully consistent” with the provisions of the treaty – a request seemingly rejected on 3 July, with the CSTO's assessment being that it is a "border incident" that doesn't fall under the provisions of the treaty.