Russia`s Foreign Ministry: Armenia may be stripped of its voting rights in the CSTO

ArmInfo. The CSTO Collective Security Council may decide next week to strip Armenia of its voting rights in the organization, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Alexander Pankin told TASS.

"Armenia hasn't paid its membership dues for over two years, so it's entirely possible the issue will be reviewed and a decision made to temporarily suspend its membership—or, more precisely, strip it of its voting rights—until the dues are paid. This is a purely technical matter, stipulated by the charter, a specific article of it. So, such an outcome is possible, but it depends on the president's decision," he said.

Pankin recalled that Russia chairs the CSTO and is responsible for the entire agenda. "There will be a CSTO summit, preceded by a trilateral meeting of the foreign and defense ministers and the secretaries of the Security Councils." Armenia's issue may not be the most important, but it could be the most interesting for the public, because the CSTO is about cooperation, shared goals, and objectives," he noted.

Responding to a question about whether this issue would be discussed at next week's events, Pankin noted: "Probably, yes, it could be considered, but everything depends on whether everyone else agrees to consider it or not. I think it will be considered."

The next session of the CSTO Collective Security Council will be held on November 11 in Moscow.

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 practically 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.