While fighting in Ukraine, Russia is simultaneously witnessing the disintegration of the Collective Security Treaty Organization, which is in crisis (CSTO), a military alliance he created to secure his neighborhood in the Caucasus and Central Asia, AFP reports.

At the CSTO summit in Yerevan, Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan condemned the failure of his allies to help his country in the face of neighboring Azerbaijan, with which it is fighting for control of Nagorno-Karabakh.

As in the case of the NATO treaty for the West, the CSTO article provides that the attacked state receives support from other members.

But despite calls for help, Armenia did not receive any benefit from it. Nikol Pashinyan condemned the “huge damage to the image of the CSTO both in our country and abroad.”

Alexander Lukashenko, an ally of Putin, has spoken openly about what is now monopolizing Russia’s attention and energy – the war in Ukraine – and the difficulties Moscow is facing.

“I feel that we are all of the same mind: if Russia collapses – God forbid – our place will be under rubble,” he said.

Moscow has been dealt a major blow in what remains its immediate sphere of influence. “Russia is constantly losing ground. Along the way, trust is eroded,” Murat Aslan, a researcher at the Seta Center for Turkish Studies in Ankara, told AFP as Turkey, which backs Baku against Armenia, mounts an offensive for influence in the region.

“Dislocation”

In addition to Russia, Armenia and Belarus, the CSTO includes Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan. But each of its members is wondering about their future in the bloc.

Especially since the two countries accused each other in October of destabilizing their shared border, warning of the risk of military escalation a month after clashes left hundreds dead. Neither the CSTO nor Moscow reacted.

“There is more competition and expectations than real cooperation and organization,” says Murat Aslan, noting “a lack of identity and consensus on common issues.”

Officially, Moscow is satisfied with the summit. The CSTO contributes to “ensuring the protection of our national interests, the sovereignty and independence of our countries,” Vladimir Putin said on Wednesday. Kremlin spokesman Dmytro Peskov spoke of the “necessary” bloc, whose services are “very necessary” to resolve regional conflicts.

But the Russian press was less complimentary. Under the headline “Allies with different priorities”, Kommersant daily said on Wednesday that the leaders of member countries were developing “very different visions of the organization’s goals”.

The daily newspaper Nezavisimaya Gazeta said that “an attempt was made in Yerevan to save the military alliance from collapse”, lamenting that it was “indifferent not only to the conflict between Azerbaijan and Armenia, but also to the conflict between Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan, beyond mention about the Russian-Ukrainian conflict”.

“A bit isolated and vengeful”

Richard Giragosian, director of the Regional Studies Center (RSC), an independent think tank based in Yerevan, is critical of the “Collective Security Treaty Organization” and described to AFP a “severely undermined” organization for which Putin must bear the “burden”. “.

In addition, as Lukashenko brutally points out, the failure of the Russian invasion of Ukraine puts a lot of pressure on Russia’s image.

The war “strongly, if not fatally, weakened the power and influence of Russia. And after the crushing defeat of the vaunted Russian army, we now see an isolated, angry and vengeful Putin,” insists Richard Giragosian.

The future of regional security remains to be written. And the weakening of the CSTO opens up opportunities for other regional forces. Like China, which runs the Shanghai Cooperation Organization in the region and is promoting its New Silk Roads, and Turkey, Moscow’s historic rival in these regions for centuries, which is pushing its own agenda.