At the meeting of the Council of Defense Ministers of the member states of the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) in Minsk on May 25, Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu stated that in many cases, the situation in the Caucasus region is determined by the level of settlement of the Armenian-Azerbaijani conflict.

According to the Russian Defense Minister, the West is trying to intervene in the situation around Karabakh, increase its involvement and discredit Russia's peacekeeping policy. He noted that the main issue for the West is not to ensure security and progress in the region in the long term but to push Russia out of the South Caucasus.

"The so-called civilian mission of the European Union is an example. This mission includes military personnel and employees of special services. I think there is no need to explain what they do. In this regard, it is necessary to continue the work on redirecting the mission of the CSTO to the region we think," Shoigu said.