Armenian parliament speaker not to attend CSTO event in Dec

YEREVAN. Nov 22 (Interfax) - Armenian Parliament Speaker Alen Simonyan has said he will not take part in a Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) event due in December.

"Armenia has not decided to withdraw from the CSTO, but I believe that my participation in this event would be inexpedient in this situation. The situation is that the CSTO has not been honoring its obligations," Simonyan said at a press briefing on Wednesday.

By taking this position, Armenia "is trying to make this mechanism work: it if works then it works; [it is] bad if it does not," he said.

"This is absolutely not a freeze of relations. I have told the CSTO partners that I will not attend the event. There is no answer, and I think there won't be any. I am sure they understand the reasons for [our] non-participation," Simonyan said.