On March 16, Imangali Tasmagambetov, the Secretary General of the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO), arrived in Yerevan.

Imangali Tasmagambetov visited the city of Jermuk on the border with Azerbaijan. The administrative head of the military bloc held a series of meetings with local authorities and representatives of the Armenian Armed Forces.

Moreover, Imangali Tasmagambetov had a meeting with Armenian Defense Minister Suren Papikyan. They discussed several international and regional security issues, including the situation on the Armenian-Azerbaijani line of content and the military-political situation around Armenia. On the situation along the Armenian-Azerbaijani border, Suren Papikyan presented the long-standing problems, specifying what Armenia's expectations from the CSTO are.

On March 17, Armen Grigoryan, the Secretary of the Security Council, received CSTO General Secretary Imangali Tasmagambetov. At the meeting, the interlocutors discussed the CSTO zone of responsibility situation. The CSTO Secretary General reported on the situation regarding the border demarcation between Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan. Armen Grigoryan presented the situation on the Armenian-Azerbaijani border. The parties also referred to the latest statement of the President of Azerbaijan, noting that it contradicts the statements of Prague and Sochi.

On the same day, Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan received Imangali Tasmagambetov. The interlocutors exchanged ideas on the current situation in the CSTO zone of responsibility, regional developments, and security challenges. In this context, several issues related to the Armenian-Azerbaijani border situation and CSTO collective defense mechanisms were discussed.

As previously reported by Caucasus Watch, in answer to a question about Armenia’s possible withdrawal from the organization, Pashinyan said: "The actual concern in Armenia is that CSTO might withdraw from Armenia. My assessment is that the CSTO is leaving Armenia willingly or unwillingly, and that worries us.”