Moscow explained why Nagorno-Karabakh does not fall under the protection of the CSTO
Nagorno-Karabakh is not recognized even by Armenia itself, therefore the self-proclaimed republic does not fall under the mutual protection of CSTO members - Russia has no legal basis for official military assistance to Yerevan.
Military expert Alexey Leonkov stated this on air on the Rossiya 1 TV channel, a PolitNavigator correspondent reports.
“Now Armenia is called a military ally of Russia, but it was not Armenia that was attacked. Because there are such hotheads who say that they attacked a Russian military ally, and Russia should intervene. But Russia cannot intervene because the CSTO treaty is at stake. The Armenian Ambassador to Moscow said: “We will not refer to the CSTO protocol,” the expert recalled.
“The agreements that we signed with Armenia on its protection and that it is our military ally apply only to the territory of Armenia. If someone attacks Armenia, and Aliyev said: “We will not attack the territory of Armenia.” But this does not apply to Nagorno-Karabakh,” the expert also noted.
Moscow explains why Nagorno-Karabakh is not protected by the CSTO.