On Wednesday, Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan indicated his willingness to withdraw Armenia from the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO), asserting that the Russian-led military alliance now poses a security threat to his nation.
Pashinyan emphasized, “Instead of fulfilling its security obligations to Armenia, the Collective Security Treaty Organization is posing security challenges for Armenia.” He added, “And indeed, I want to underscore that this [CSTO] stance represents a threat to Armenia’s national security… Contrary to its responsibility to adopt a supportive stance towards Armenia’s security, the CSTO is doing the opposite.”
“We have essentially put Armenia’s membership in the CSTO on hold, and if this trend persists, we will formalize this suspension,” he informed the Armenian parliament.
Pashinyan had announced the practical suspension of Armenia’s CSTO membership the previous week, prompting the Kremlin to demand official clarifications from Yerevan. The Kremlin also highlighted that the alliance’s regulations do not permit such a suspension.
In the past year, Pashinyan’s government not only abstained from participating in various CSTO meetings but also canceled a planned CSTO exercise in Armenia, declined to appoint an Armenian deputy head of the organization, and recalled the Armenian representative from its Moscow headquarters.
Armenia had sought support from Russia and other CSTO allies following Azerbaijan’s offensive military actions initiated along the Armenian-Azerbaijani border in September 2022. However, Armenia has repeatedly accused them of disregarding its pleas. Yerevan rejected CSTO offers of “military-technical assistance” and the deployment of a border monitoring mission.
Pashinyan stressed on Wednesday that his administration primarily seeks from the CSTO a “diplomatic and political assessment” of Azerbaijan’s occupation of Armenia’s internationally recognized territory. He also criticized the alliance’s reluctance to clarify its “zone of responsibility” within Armenia.
In December, Russian President Vladimir Putin suggested that Armenia had no plans to exit the CSTO, attributing Yerevan’s boycott of the organization to internal developments in the South Caucasus nation. However, earlier, the Russian Foreign Ministry had accused Pashinyan of systematically “undermining” Russian-Armenian relations.
Pashinyan intensified his criticism of Russia and the CSTO following recent visits to Germany and France. An Armenian diplomatic source indicated last week that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy is likely to visit Yerevan on March 4.
