Pro-government MP defends decision to skip CSTO summit

Pro-government lawmaker Gagik Melkonyan has defended Armenia’s decision to skip the upcoming summit of the Moscow-led Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO).

Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan said he would not attend the CSTO summit in Minsk on 23 November in a phone call with Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko on Tuesday.

“Armenia is not leaving the CSTO,” Melkonyan told reporters in the parliament on Wednesday.

The MP, who represents the ruling Civil Contract party, was reluctant to answer any other questions.

When asked why Armenia refused to participate in the CSTO summit, the MP said: “We don't want to, so we won't participate.”