"Do CIS member states respect borders recognized in 1991 as founding  documents of CIS?": Pashinyan at meeting of CIS heads 

ArmInfo. The rhetoric of official Baku and other Azerbaijani sources after this attack show  that Azerbaijan has intentions to occupy more territories of Armenia,  which must be prevented. Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan stated this  on October 14 in Astana, the capital of Kazakhstan, at a meeting of  the Council of Heads of State of the Commonwealth of Independent  States.

According to the press service of the Prime Minister of the Republic  of Armenia, Pashinyan recalled that the Armenian side is working on  normalizing relations with Azerbaijan. He noted the importance of the  role of the CIS in this context. "The work of the Delimitation and  Border Security Commissions is important in the process of  normalization, an agreement on the formation of which was reached  during a trilateral meeting of the President of Russia, the President  of Azerbaijan and the Prime Minister of Armenia in Sochi on November  26, 2021," the Armenian Prime Minister said.

As Pashinyan pointed out, following a meeting in Prague on October 6  this year with the President of Azerbaijan, through the mediation of  the President of France and the President of the European Council, an  agreement was reached that in the process of delimitation the parties  will rely on the fundamental documents of the CIS, according to which  the former administrative borders of the Soviet republics became  state borders between already independent countries, including  between Armenia and Azerbaijan. "I want to draw your attention to the  fact that the abovementioned is an important factor also from the  point of view of our today's agenda, since we are also discussing the  issue of the CIS Appeal on granting observer status to the CSTO," he  said.

According to him, before making a decision, it is important to decide  on the following issues. <Does the CSTO recognize the state borders  of the CIS countries, established in 1991 by the founding documents  of the CIS? This is an important issue, since we are talking about  the area of responsibility of the CSTO and, let me say, about the  functionality of the organization itself. If we rely on  interpretations according to which there are no borders between the  CIS countries, since these borders are not delimited, this means that  the area of responsibility of the CSTO is not defined, that is, it  does not exist. And this blurs the functionality of the CSTO>,  Pashinyan emphasized.

In addition, according to the head of the Armenian Cabinet, it is  very important to clearly answer the following question: do the CIS  member states respect the borders recognized in 1991 as the  fundamental documents of the CIS? An unequivocal, affirmative answer  to this question is very important for stability and security in the  CIS space, the prime minister noted. Without a clear explanation of  these issues, he said, the decision to apply to the CSTO to grant the  CIS observer status is premature.   Nikol Pashinyan stressed that these issues have become especially  acute for the RA due to the recent military aggression of Azerbaijan  against Armenia. <On September 13, Azerbaijan launched an unprovoked  military aggression against Armenia. Using heavy artillery, multiple  launch rocket systems and combat UAVs, the armed forces of Azerbaijan  shelled 36 settlements in the depths of the sovereign territory of  Armenia, including the cities of Goris, Jermuk, Vardenis, Kapan, and  the settlement of Geghamasar. I want to make it clear that this was  not a border or frontier incident or clash, but a direct, undeniable  attack on the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Armenia. This  aggression of Azerbaijan was discussed in the UN Security Council,  the majority of whose members condemned the illegal military actions  of Azerbaijan. Aggression was also condemned by the world community>,  the prime minister said.  

He noted that the Azerbaijani attack was deliberately directed  against the civilian population and vital civilian infrastructures.   <The total number of temporarily displaced persons from the  Gegharkunik, Vayots Dzor and Syunik regions of Armenia amounted to  more than 7,600 people, mostly women and the elderly, as well as  1,437 children and 99 disabled people. About 192 residential  buildings, 3 hotels, 2 schools, 1 medical facility were partially or  completely destroyed. 7 power supply facilities, 5 water supply  facilities, 3 gas pipelines, 1 bridge were damaged. 2 ambulances and  4 private cars were fired upon. The Kechut reservoir was also  shelled. As a result of the aggression, the number of victims and  missing persons has now exceeded 210 people, of which 3 civilians  were killed and 2 civilians were missing. 293 servicemen and 8  civilians were wounded. The number of missing servicemen is 28  people. The Azerbaijani side itself distributed shocking videos of  torture, mutilation of the captured persons and bodies of already  dead servicemen, about numerous cases of extrajudicial executions,  murders and ill-treatment of Armenian prisoners of war, as well as  degrading treatment of the bodies. The bodies of Armenian female  soldiers were mutilated with particular cruelty, and then "proudly"  filmed by Azerbaijani soldiers. These videos of clear war crimes and  crimes against humanity are being shared and praised by a number of  Azerbaijani social media users.  

Undoubtedly, the commission of such indescribable atrocities is a  direct consequence of the long-term policy of planting Armenophobia  and enmity in Azerbaijani society by the political leadership," the  prime minister said.  He stressed that the risk of new aggression  from Azerbaijan remains very high, especially given that Azerbaijan  continues to consistently violate the ceasefire, trying to attribute  its provocative actions to the Armenian side. Another factor of  further escalation may be an inadequate response to the current  situation by regional security organizations, which has raised very  acute questions in the Armenian society>, the Prime Minister of  Armenia said.