Belarusian FM calls for restricting ''pseudo-allies’'' access to CSTO documents
Access to documents containing classified information should be restricted when it comes to pseudo-allies. As reported by TASS, Belarusian Foreign Minister Maxim Ryzhenkov made this comment in response to the decision adopted at the CSTO summit in Moscow to strip Armenia of its voting rights.
Ryzhenkov drew attention to Armenia’s attitude in recent years toward its participation in integration frameworks such as the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) and the Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU).
“What we are seeing is passive participation, with certain knowledge and benefits derived from membership in these organizations being used to serve self-interests that, let us say, do not align with the objectives of the integration frameworks. After all, our goal is to be strong and united on political, economic, and security matters. But what do we actually get? A situation in which someone says: ‘I’ll take whatever suits me — certain prices for gas and oil, favorable terms for transporting my goods to the end consumer — and everything else is of no concern to me,’” he said.
The head of Belarus’s Foreign Ministry noted that Armenia’s attitude could hardly have gone unnoticed within the CSTO.
“That is why, for the time being, the allocation of staff positions under the established quotas and participation in certain organizational decision-making processes have been suspended. I am confident that access to certain documents of a classified nature will also be restricted. Why should we grant such a pseudo-ally full access, on matters of this kind, to documentation that is highly confidential and could potentially — and I stress that I am speaking purely hypothetically — be used in ways that do not serve the interests of the countries currently committed to further developing our integration framework in a spirit of genuine solidarity and cohesion?” Ryzhenkov stated.
Earlier, the leaders of the member states decided to strip Armenia of its voting rights and its ability to nominate representatives for senior positions within the organization, citing its failure to meet its financial obligations by settling outstanding contributions to the organization’s budget for two consecutive years.
At the same time, the issue of Armenia’s expulsion from the Collective Security Treaty Organization was not raised at the summit, CSTO Secretary General Taalatbek Masadykov said.
