Armenian leader complains to Russia-led military bloc about Azerbaijan

While speaking at a session of the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) in Dushanbe, Tajikistan, President Sarkisian said the heads of the CSTO member states met to discuss a set of sensitive issues, saying the meeting ran, "in [a] traditionally frank and confidential atmosphere,” News-Armenia reports quoting RIA Novosti.

"I informed the heads of the CSTO member states on the situation in the South Caucasus, placing the focus on [the] significant threat of rising tension along the Armenian-Azerbaijani border and the Azerbaijan-Karabakh line of contact. I would like to add only that the attempts of the Azerbaijani side to aggravate the situation in the absence of an adequate response from the international community is fraught with destabilization of the situation across the whole region,” Sarkisian said.

The CSTO session is expected to adopt a statement that will reflect member states’ approaches toward existing global and regional challenges and threats. They are also expected to sign ten other documents on the current activities of the organization.

Armenia captured nearly one-fifth of Azerbaijan’s internationally recognized territory, including Nagorno-Karabakh and seven surrounding districts, in a war after the breakup of the Soviet Union in 1991.

While major hostilities ended with a cease-fire in 1994, no peace agreement has been signed despite talks mediated by Russia, France and the United States.

Armenia has yet to comply with four UN Security Council resolutions demanding immediate and unconditional withdrawal from the occupied Azerbaijani territory.

Azerbaijan has repeatedly warned that it reserves the right to use force to regain control of the territory.