CSTO Secretary General: Russia proposed applying Article 25 of the CSTO Charter to Armenia

ArmInfo. The CSTO Collective Security Council may consider applying Article 25 of the organization's Charter to Armenia when approving the relevant agenda. CSTO Secretary General Taalatbek Masadykov told reporters on the sidelines of the IV Minsk International Conference on Eurasian Security.

"This year, if the agenda is approved on the 10th, then this issue will be discussed at the Collective Security Council. The decision to suspend is Armenia's decision. The decision of the Collective Security Council of the heads of our countries will be known after the CSC meeting," Masadykov said, according to TASS.

Masadykov noted that the Russian Federation has submitted a draft resolution on applying Article 25 of the CSTO Charter to Armenia. "This concerns membership fees and, so to speak, presence, but non-participation, in the work of the Collective Security Treaty Organization," he added.

Article 25 of the CSTO Charter states that "if member states fail to fulfill their obligations to repay their debt to the organization's budget within two years, the Council decides to suspend the right of citizens of that state to nominate quota positions within the organization, as well as to deprive them of voting rights in the organization's bodies until the debt is fully repaid."

Earlier, Armenian Foreign Minister Ararat Mirzoyan stated that Yerevan sees no possibility of returning to the Collective Security Treaty Organization.

As a reminder, Armenia has been boycotting CSTO events since the end of 2022. In February 2024, Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan declared that Armenia had effectively frozen its participation in the CSTO, as the organization had failed to fulfill its obligations to Armenia, which could not go without consequences. And on September 18, 2024, at the Second World Armenian Summit, Pashinyan declared that the CSTO posed threats to Armenia's security, its continued existence, sovereignty, and statehood.