Lavrov: Armenia will not be expelled from the CSTO

ArmInfo. The door to the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) is not slamming shut for Yerevan; Armenia will not be expelled from the CSTO. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov told reporters this after a joint meeting of the Council of Foreign Ministers, the Council of Defense Ministers, and the Committee of Secretaries of Security Councils of the Collective Security Treaty Organization.

"We, as law-abiding people who are committed to our treaty obligations, today agreed to submit for consideration by the heads of state a decision to suspend the hiring of Armenian citizens in the [CSTO] Secretariat and [to suspend] Armenia's voting rights in the CSTO in accordance with Article 25 of our organization's Charter, which states: if the debt to the CSTO budget exceeds a two-year period, then the country should be deprived of its voting rights. But we are not slamming the door," Lavrov noted, TASS reports.

"It seems to me that [Armenian Prime Minister] Nikol Pashinyan, when he says: 'I am, of course, going to the European Union,' they demand a referendum from me so that "The Armenian people have chosen where they feel best—the Eurasian Economic Union or the EU. I will make this choice when I officially submit my application and receive a response," the Russian Foreign Minister stated. This will no longer be a choice; it will present the people with a fait accompli. According to him, roughly the same logic is observed with regard to the CSTO, when Yerevan declares that the organization no longer meets the country's interests because it "does not meet Armenia's security needs." "But if that's the case, then we need to leave. But if they want us to kick Armenia out, we won't do that," Lavrov concluded.

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.