Prime Minister Pashinyan of former Soviet Union Armenia has announced that his country has frozen its participation in the Russian-led military alliance of which Armenia is a member.
Armenia has lost a conflict with neighboring Azerbaijan, accusing it of lack of support from its military alliance, and is further accelerating its move away from Russia.
Armenia has been fighting with neighboring Azerbaijan over the disputed territory of Nagorno-Karabakh for many years, but in September of last year, Azerbaijan launched military action and Armenia was defeated.
In an interview with a French television station on the 22nd, Armenian Prime Minister Pashinyan accused the Russian-led military alliance CSTO, which Armenia is a member of, of failing to meet its security obligations in the conflict with Azerbaijan.
Prime Minister Pashinyan then stated, ``We have effectively frozen CSTO's participation.''
However, there are no plans to close Russian military bases in Armenia.
Armenia is a member of the former Soviet Union and is under strong influence from Russia in areas such as security and economics, but in recent years it has deepened its conflict with Russia's Putin administration and has become closer to the West.
On the 18th of this month, Prime Minister Pashinyan announced his opposition to Russia's military invasion of Ukraine, further accelerating his move away from Russia.