Armenia's decision to suspend CSTO membership stirs political unrest in Russia
The Armenian Prime Minister, Nikol Pashinyan, explained in an interview with France 24, Armenia's decision to suspend its membership in the Collective Security Treaty Organisation. This move was primarily instigated by Russia's overt incitement of the Armenian public to overturn the authorities. In Moscow, the vilification of the Armenian government's head shows no sign of tapering off.
The entire situation came as a shock to Russia. Dmitry Peskov, the Kremlin spokesman, misleadingly stated on Zvezda TV that Armenia has not made any official moves.
The Russian propagandists have now added their voices to the fray, with Vladimir Solovyov being among the loudest.
"There would be no problem in Armenia, if we had not halted in 2008. If we had addressed the issue with Georgia, we would share a land border with Armenia, and the situation in Armenia would look vastly different," said the propagandist.
Vladimir Solovyov is a leading figure in Kremlin propaganda. In recent months, the state television presenter for Rossija 1 has persistently covered the topic of the war in Ukraine. Furthermore, he has defended all of Vladimir Putin's decisions and the crimes perpetrated by Russian soldiers on the front line.
16 years after the Georgia war
On the night of August 7th to 8th in 2008, Georgia embarked on an offensive designed to reclaim control over the pro-Russian separatist region of South Ossetia. Russia counteracted with a significant military operation.
Several days of conflict resulted in two separatist regions of Georgia - Abkhazia and South Ossetia - that are backed by Moscow, declaring their independence. The only countries recognizing them were Russia, Venezuela, Nicaragua, Nauru, and Tuvalu. The rest of the world viewed both republics as part of Georgia.
The conflict claimed approximately 1000 lives, including around 600 civilians, and created about 138,000 refugees from the region, 30,000 of whom did not return, mainly ethnic Georgians from South Ossetia and Abkhazia.
