Armenia`s interests in the CSTO have been exhausted - Pashinyan

ArmInfo. Armenia's interests in the CSTO (Collective Security Treaty Organization) have been exhausted. Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan stated this during a briefing on November 5, responding to a question about the country's next steps if the CSTO, at Russia's suggestion, applies Article 25 of the Organization's Charter to Armenia.

It should be noted that on the sidelines of the IV Minsk International Conference on Eurasian Security, CSTO Secretary General Taalatbek Masadykov stated that the CSTO Collective Security Council may consider applying Article 25 of the organization's Charter to Armenia when approving the relevant agenda.

Masadykov noted that Russia 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 shall decide 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."

As a reminder, Armenia has been boycotting CSTO events since the end of 2022. In February 2024, Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan stated 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 already on September 18, 2024, at the second World Armenian Summit, Pashinyan stated that the CSTO creates threats to Armenia's security, its continued existence, sovereignty and statehood.