Leaving CSTO more likely than defreezing membership, says Armenian PM

By Zhanna Avagyan

Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan said that it is now more likely that Armenia will quit the Russia-led Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) altogether rather than continue its suspended membership.

“It is more likely that we will leave the CSTO than freeze our membership,” Pashinyan told a press conference in Yerevan on Thursday.

The statement marks another escalation in Armenia’s ongoing rift with the military alliance, which includes Russia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, and Tajikistan. Armenia suspended its participation in the CSTO in February 2024, with Pashinyan citing the bloc’s failure to uphold Armenia’s security, sovereignty, and territorial integrity.

The rift widened after Azerbaijan launched a large-scale military incursion into Armenia’s internationally recognized territory in September 2022. Despite repeated calls from Yerevan for assistance, the CSTO neither condemned the Azerbaijani offensive nor acknowledged that Armenian territory had been occupied. Armenian officials have accused the bloc of neglecting its treaty obligations under Article 4, which calls for collective defense in the event of aggression against a member state.

Following the suspension of its membership, Armenia ceased paying membership dues and halted participation in joint CSTO military drills. Armenian officials have also declined to host CSTO missions and have sought closer ties with Western partners, including the European Union and the United States.

The CSTO was established in 2002 as a regional security alliance intended to coordinate defense and ensure mutual protection among its members. It was formed out of a 1992 treaty signed by several post-Soviet states. Russia has traditionally played a dominant role in the bloc, which has been criticized for its perceived ineffectiveness in responding to regional crises not aligned with Moscow’s interests.