Pashinyan: Armenia Has No Plans to Return to CSTO

YEREVAN — Armenia has no plans over the next five years to reactivate its participation in the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) or return to active involvement in the organization, Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan said on August 24 while answering lawmakers’ questions in the National Assembly regarding the government’s 2026–2031 program.

The prime minister stressed that all of Armenia’s questions addressed to the organization have remained unanswered and that the country’s interest in the CSTO has been exhausted.

“Our election platform clearly states that over the next five years we have no plans to return to the CSTO. I can say with confidence that we will not reactivate our activities within the CSTO,” Pashinyan said.

He added that if the organization decides to remove Armenia from its ranks, it would simplify the country’s decision-making process.

“I would be very pleased if the organization decided to remove the Republic of Armenia from the Collective Security Treaty Organization. At the very least, it would free us from the dilemma of whether or not to withdraw,” he said.

Addressing regional security challenges, Pashinyan emphasized the need to establish peace and stability with Azerbaijan and Turkey. He said Armenia must develop the ability to survive through its own capabilities, regardless of assistance from outside powers.

“We must have the ability to live in our region without outside assistance. External means external, regardless of whether it comes from the north or the west. We must have a capable army, and we must have peace,” Pashinyan said.

According to the prime minister, Armenia’s security concept should be based on legitimacy, interconnectedness and long-term predictability.

Earlier in August, Russia’s Permanent Representative to the CSTO, Viktor Vasilyev, said a consensus would be required to deprive Armenia of voting rights within the organization’s bodies. He noted that the next session of the CSTO Collective Security Council is scheduled for November 11 in Moscow, where member-state leaders are expected to discuss the issue.

Armenian Foreign Minister Ararat Mirzoyan previously said that Armenia did not pay its CSTO membership contribution for 2025 because it did not participate in the organization’s activities.

Relations between Armenia and the CSTO deteriorated following the September 2022 incursion by Azerbaijani forces into Armenia’s sovereign territory, when the organization did not provide military or political assistance to its member state.

Armenia announced in February 2024 that it had frozen its participation in the CSTO. Pashinyan has repeatedly said that the organization failed to fulfill its security obligations toward Armenia.