RPA: Armenia`s interests require unfreezing its status in the CSTO, deepening relations with Russia, and developing economic ties in the EAEU region

ArmInfo. Armenia's interests require unfreezing its status in the CSTO, deepening relations with Russia, and developing economic ties in the EAEU region. Eduard Sharmazanov, a member of the board of the Republican Party, shares a similar view.

On his Facebook page, the politician writes that the gradual departure from the CSTO is due to former US National Security Advisor John Bolton's thesis about abandoning "historical ideas."

"Armenia has been deprived of voting rights in the CSTO. This was not unexpected, since the actions of the Armenian leadership after 2018 were aimed at changing the foreign policy and defense vector of our state. While a member of the CSTO and the EAEU, the Armenian leadership declares its goal of joining the EU. This was nothing less than a political gamble." Severing relations with the CSTO is also a gamble. "The Republic of Armenia cannot have an effective security system on its own, without membership in any military bloc," Eduard Sharmazanov believes.

He raised the question of an alternative in this regard. "What is the alternative to the CSTO? Turkey, which, according to Pashinyan, 'returned to the region to end the Armenian Genocide,' or the EU, which itself needs a strong security system and is not an organization that exports security. Of course, there is no doubt that the CSTO has had and continues to have problems, but these problems require solutions, not freezing and withdrawal," the politician noted.

As a reminder, on November 11, the CSTO decided to strip Armenia of its voting rights in the organization and the ability to appoint its representatives to senior positions within the CSTO. The reason cited is Yerevan's failure to fulfill its obligations to the organization, in particular, arrears in membership dues since 2024 and its actual non-participation in its activities. However, the decision does not mean Armenia's exclusion from the CSTO; the republic formally remains a member of the association. In February 2024, Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan announced the freezing of the country's participation in the CSTO. He explained this by the organization's failure to fulfill its obligations to Armenia, in particular, the lack, according to Yerevan, of an appropriate response to the events on the Armenian-Azerbaijani border in 2021-2022. On November 5, 2026, Pashinyan stated that Armenia's interest in the CSTO had been exhausted and the republic was no longer interested in the organization.