The key facts

  • Russia will not seek Armenia's expulsion from the CSTO, Sergey Lavrov said
  • Armenia has not been paying contributions to the organization's budget since 2024
  • Under Article 25 of the CSTO charter, a debt of more than two years leads to loss of voting rights; a draft decision was considered at the CSC session

Moscow's position: no expulsion, but no ignoring the debts either

Russia does not intend to seek Armenia's expulsion from the CSTO, despite Yerevan's accumulated arrears in membership dues. This was stated by Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov at a press conference with the organization's Secretary General Taalatbek Masadykov, as quoted by Gazeta.Ru citing RIA Novosti. «If they want us to kick Armenia out, we will not do that,» the Foreign Minister said.

What is happening with membership and voting rights

According to Lavrov, Armenia has not submitted any applications to withdraw from the CSTO, but since 2024 it has not been paying its contributions to the organization's budget. He recalled, that under Article 25 of the CSTO charter, if a member's debt exceeds a two-year period, the state must be deprived of its voting rights. «The relevant draft will be considered tomorrow at the session of the Collective Security Council,» the minister noted. At the same time, according to him, Armenia will retain the right to collective security regardless of what decision the participants of the session adopt.

Context: statements from Yerevan and an exchange of accusations

The backdrop to this situation is Armenia's own position: Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan stated, that the republic is no longer interested in the CSTO and that Yerevan's «interest in the CSTO has dried up.» Earlier, the official spokesperson of the Russian Foreign Ministry, Maria Zakharova, responded to Armenia's accusations of Russia's inaction in Karabakh. Thus, formally Yerevan remains in the organization — it currently consists of six states: Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia and Tajikistan — but the question of its status is being resolved through a procedure involving voting rights, not through expulsion, which Moscow, according to Lavrov's statement, will not initiate.