Armenia deprived of voting rights in CSTO
Armenia has been deprived of voting rights in the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO). This was reported on November 11 by Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov .
Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan and Russian President Vladimir Putin at one of the CSTO summits in 2023. Photo: Vladimir Smirnov, Sputnik, Kremlin Pool Photo via AP, File
The decision was made by the leaders of the organization's countries during the session of the CSTO Collective Security Council, which took place in Moscow. Among others, Alexander Lukashenka participated in it. The reason cited was that Armenia had not fulfilled its financial obligations to the organization for several years and had arrears.
In addition to voting rights, Armenia lost the ability to nominate its representatives for responsible positions within the CSTO. Thus, Article 25 of the organization's charter was invoked. It provides for the suspension of the right to nominate citizens for quota positions and deprivation of voting rights if a state fails to fulfill its obligations to repay debts to the organization's budget for two years.
According to the charter, Armenia will be able to restore its rights after full repayment of the debt. At the same time, the CSTO stated that the issue of expelling the country from the organization was not considered at the summit.
Earlier, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov noted that Armenia had not submitted an official application to withdraw from the Eurasian Economic Union and the CSTO. However, the country's Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan has repeatedly stated his intention to freeze Armenia's membership in the military bloc.
On March 26, 2025, the Armenian parliament adopted a law on starting the process of the country's accession to the European Union. In the spring of 2026, Armenia stated that it might consider withdrawing from the EAEU and CSTO if Russian gas prices become unacceptable for it.
At the end of October, it became known that Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, and Russia might consider suspending Armenia's participation in the EAEU.