Decision to strip Armenia of its voting rights in CSTO bodies  requires consensus - RF Permanent Rep

ArmInfo.  A decision to strip Armenia of its voting rights in CSTO bodies will require consensus, Russian Permanent Representative to the CSTO Viktor Vasilyev told RIA  Novosti.

"The next session of the CSTO Collective Security Council will be  held in Moscow on November 11, and the leaders will likely discuss  this issue. A decision on it, if necessary, will be made by  consensus," Vasilyev said in an interview with the agency.

The Permanent Representative emphasized that Article 25 of the CSTO  Charter addresses the possibility of suspending the right of citizens  to nominate quota positions, as well as the right to vote in the  Organization's bodies, in the event of failure to fulfill obligations  to repay the Organization's budget arrears within two years. "De  facto, this state of affairs has been in place for over two years, as  Armenia is not nominating its citizens for quota positions in the  Secretariat and has also withdrawn its representatives from the CSTO  Joint Staff," he concluded.

Armenia froze its participation in the CSTO in 2024. As Prime  Minister Nikol Pashinyan explained, the Collective Security Treaty  with respect to Armenia was not implemented by its allies in  2021-2022, so Yerevan "froze" its participation in the CSTO. The  organization includes Russia, Belarus, Armenia, Kazakhstan,  Kyrgyzstan, and Tajikistan.