Armenian Security Council Secretary Will Not Attend CIS Meeting in Moscow

YEREVAN — Armenian Security Council Secretary Armen Grigoryan will not participate in a regular meeting of the CIS security council secretaries, slated for November 8 in Moscow, the press secretary of the Armenian Security Council Tatevik Petrosyan told Armenpress news agency.

A spokeswoman for Armen Grigoryan gave no reason for the decision to skip the meeting in Moscow.

Earlier this month Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova lashed out at Armenia for sending Armenian Security Council Secretary to attend the two-day talks in Malta on October 28-29 on Ukraine’s plan for peace with the participation of more than 65 countries.

Maria Zakharova said Moscow views Armenia’s participation as a ‘demonstratively anti-Russian gesture.’ She also accused a number of media outlets in Armenia, which she claimed are paid through resources affiliated with state bodies of anti-Russian rhetoric and unconcealed Russophobia.

Earlier this year, Yerevan also refused to participate in military exercises held by the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) and shunned a meeting of the defense ministers of ex-Soviet states making up the Russian-led alliance.