Armenia asks for help from CSTO in restoring its territorial integrity

Armenia has asked the Collective Security Treaty Organisation (CSTO) for help in restoring its territorial integrity, said Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan during a speech in the Parliament.

“Armenia has asked for help from CSTO under Article 4 — among other things, [we have asked] for military help in restoring the territorial integrity of the country,” he declared.

Azerbaijan’s Armed Forces had established control over several Armenian territories after the fighting on the border, the prime minister added. According to Pashinyan, at least 105 Armenian servicemen had been killed as a result of Azerbaijani attacks.

Earlier today, Armenia’s Ministry of Defence accused Azerbaijani servicemen of heavy shelling of the Sotk-Goris section of the border. Press Secretary of the Ministry of Defence of Armenia Aram Torosyan said that a building and a vehicle belonging to the Federal Security Service of Russia, tasked with a humanitarian mission in the combat zone, had come under fire.

“This is a further example that Azerbaijan’s Armed Forces do not differentiate between targets,” the Armenian ministry’s statement read.

Russia has yet to comment on this information. Azerbaijan’s Ministry of Defence denied all accusations of shelling the Russian vehicle.

“Reports from the Armenian side about Azerbaijan's Armed Forces having allegedly shelled a military object and a vehicle belonging to the Russian Armed Forces do not correspond to reality,” claims the Azerbaijani Defence Ministry (quote by Russia’s state news agency TASS).

Yesterday, 13 September, it was reported that CSTO had made a decision to send a mission headed by Secretary General of the organisation Stanislav Zas to Armenia for assessment of the situation. The mission members will then report to the leaders of the CSTO member countries (Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Tajikistan).