Armenia's Pashinyan says he won't visit Belarus as long as Lukashenko is in power, reports RIA

FILE PHOTO: Eurasian Economic Union summit held in Moscow

(Reuters) - Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan said that no Armenian officials would visit Belarus while its leader Alexander Lukashenko is still in power, Russia's RIA state news agency reported on Thursday.

Pashinyan said on Wednesday that Yerevan would leave a Russia-led security bloc after accusing its members, which include Belarus, of having planned a war against his country with Azerbaijan.

Pashinyan said he would consider changing his stance on leaving the bloc, the Collective Security Treaty Organisation, if Belarus apologised to Armenia or withdrew from the grouping.

Later on Thursday, Armenia ordered its ambassador in Belarus to return to Yerevan for consultations, Russia's TASS state news agency cited the foreign ministry as saying.

(Reporting by Reuters; Writing by Lucy Papachristou; Editing by Mark Trevelyan/Guy Faulconbridge)