Decision on Suspending or Removing Armenia from CSTO Will Be Made by Presidents, Russian Representative Says

MOSCOW — A decision on suspending Armenia’s membership in the Collective Security Treaty Organization or removing the country from the organization is made by the Collective Security Council — meaning the presidents of the member states — Russia’s permanent representative to the CSTO, Viktor Vasilyev, told RIA Novosti.

The same official said yesterday that Armenia must decide whether it will remain in the organization or choose another scenario, and that Yerevan must inform the Russian side of its decision.

Earlier, Russia’s foreign minister said that CSTO member states were preparing to take measures against Armenia because the country had not paid its membership dues for two years.

Under the charter, the CSTO Council may suspend Armenia’s right to nominate its citizens for quota-based positions within the CSTO, as well as deprive them of the right to vote in the organization’s bodies until the debt is fully paid.

Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan recently said he was not concerned about the prospect of Armenia being removed from the CSTO. He said that if the organization’s members make such a decision, Yerevan will take note of it.

Asked whether Armenia would continue not paying membership fees to the organization or whether it may reconsider its position in the near future, Pashinyan replied: “We are not going to change anything.”

For the fourth year, Armenia has been boycotting the work of the military alliance.

After Azerbaijan’s attack on Armenia in 2022, when the CSTO not only failed to provide assistance to Armenia but also did not give a political assessment of the occupation of Armenian territories, official Yerevan stopped participating in the CSTO’s work and gave up its quota-based position of deputy secretary general.