CSTO Secretariat Addresses Potential Armenia Membership Status Ahead of November Summit

When asked what decision could be expected from the November meeting of the Collective Security Council regarding Armenia’s CSTO membership, the secretary general noted that decisions on "whether or not to expel" a country from the organization are made by the heads of the CSTO member states. "We, as the Secretariat, cannot make a decision for one side or another, so everything is still ahead. Whether this issue will be seriously discussed at the next CSC meeting in Moscow in November of this year is also a question for the heads of state themselves to decide. Let’s not rush [events]," he said.

"We have heard the statements by [Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan]. I have always said that there is [the opinion] not only of the country’s leadership, but also that of the Armenian people on various issues. So let us not anticipate events," the agency’s source stressed.

Earlier, Pashinyan said in parliament that he favored Armenia’s expulsion from the CSTO and would be pleased if that happened. Presenting the government’s program for 2026-2031 in parliament, the Armenian prime minister said that the country did not intend to step up its participation in the CSTO over the next five years.

According to him, Armenia’s interest in the CSTO has run its course. At the same time, the Armenian prime minister gave a vague answer when asked what Armenia planned to replace its CSTO membership with - strengthening relations with Turkey and Azerbaijan or applying for NATO membership, which the country has not been invited to pursue.

In September 2024, Pashinyan said that Yerevan had frozen its participation in the CSTO because, he claimed, the organization had created threats to the country’s sovereignty. In October 2024, Armenian Foreign Minister Ararat Mirzoyan said at an international security forum in Warsaw that Yerevan was assessing all the risks associated with a decision to withdraw from the CSTO. In December of the same year, the Armenian prime minister said that relations between Armenia and the CSTO had passed the point of no return.

On June 10, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said that the CSTO member states had agreed to consider applying the relevant provision of the organization’s charter to Armenia over the country’s failure to pay its membership dues for two years. On August 11, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Galuzin told TASS in an interview that the issue of suspending Armenia’s voting rights in the CSTO could be considered at the organization’s summit on November 11.