Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Wednesday that the Moscow-led Collective Security Treaty Organization is ready to send observers to Armenia, only if Yerevan, which assumes the presidency of the group, calls a session of the organization’s security council.

Lavrov made the announcement during a meeting with his Armenian counterpart Ararat Mirzoyan in the Uzbek capital of Astana, on the margins of a summit of CIS foreign ministers, Sputnik-Armenia reported.

The Russian foreign minister said such an observer mission only can be approved by the CSTO’s Security Council, whose chief of staff visited Armenia-Azerbaijan border following the September 13 attacks on Armenia’s sovereign territory.

“After Armenia requested to convene an extraordinary CSTO summit, it was immediately held, decisions were made to send the CSTO Secretary General, the Chief of the Joint Staff to Armenia. They went there, developed recommendations,” said Lavrov. “We have had those recommendations for more than a month now. They are to send a CSTO observation mission to the territory of Armenia on the border with Azerbaijan.”

“The only thing that is required is the decision of the Collective Security Council, which should be convened by the CSTO president, and the presiding country is Armenia, isn’t it?” Lavrov added. Armenia will assume the rotating presidency of the security organization.

Lavrov’s announcement came a day after European Union member-states decided to send a civilian observer mission to the Armenia-Azerbaijan border. This effort was announced on Tuesday and discussed during a summit of Armenian, Azerbaijani, French and European leaders last week.

Yerevan has welcomed the E.U. mission in an announcement in which both Armenia and Azerbaijan agreed to respect each other’s borders.

The E.U. mission will begin this month and last two months.

Lavrov’s insistence that Armenia, as the upcoming CSTO presiding country, must initiate a session of the group’s security council, places the onus of such a mission on Yerevan.

Armenian government officials, as well as ruling party lawmakers, criticized Russia and the CSTO for not acting fast after Azerbaijan invaded Armenia’s sovereign territory last month, and despite international calls, has not withdrawn its troops from Armenia.