CSTO offers to send monitoring mission to Armenian border

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The head of the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO), a military alliance of several post-Soviet states, offered Armenia on Sunday to send a monitoring mission to its border with Azerbaijan as part of a broader security strategy.

"The range of assistance measures proposed to Armenia by the CSTO — a broad range of measures that include political, diplomatic and military solutions such as sending a mission to the border to assess the situation in real time — they were supported in general by all member states," Stanislav Zas said.

The situation on the border between Armenia and Azerbaijan remained volatile, with cross-border shooting erupting almost on a daily basis, Zas told Belarusian news channel ONT, adding that CSTO members -- Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, and Tajikistan -- had diverging assessments of the security situation.

The Russian peacekeeping troops reported on Thursday a ceasefire violation by Azerbaijan in Nagorno-Karabakh, near the settlement of Maghavuz, according to the Russian Ministry of Defense.

The incident resulted in no casualties, according to the ministry, and the Russian command of the peacekeepers is investigating the incident, in cooperation with representatives of the Azerbaijani and Armenian sides.

In the 2020 conflict, which lasted for 6 weeks, over 6,500 troops died from both sides, and it ended with a ceasefire accord sponsored by Russia. Russia sent 2,000 peacekeepers to monitor the truce, but tensions remain despite a ceasefire deal.

Russia sent 2,000 peacekeepers to monitor the truce, but tensions remain despite a ceasefire deal.

With Moscow gaining momentum and further asserting its status in light of the accession of four Ukrainian regions into Russia, the US and the EU have been struggling to take the leading role in mediating the Armenia-Azerbaijan normalization process.

Read: Pashinyan eyes a peace deal with Azerbaijan before 2023