CSTO may suspend Armenia’s voting rights over unpaid membership fees

Ulviyya Poladova

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The Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) may decide next week to suspend Armenia’s voting rights within the organization over its failure to pay membership fees. Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Alexander Pankin announced this in an interview with TASS.

According to Pankin, Armenia has not paid its membership contributions for more than two years, making the issue of temporarily suspending its membership rights eligible for consideration.

"Armenia has not paid its dues for more than two years, so the issue may well be considered and a decision may be made to temporarily suspend its membership - or rather, to deprive it of the right to vote until the dues are paid. This is an absolutely technical point stipulated by the charter and its specific article," Pankin said.

He added that Russia, which currently holds the CSTO presidency, is responsible for setting the organization's agenda.

Pankin noted that the upcoming CSTO summit will be preceded by a trilateral meeting involving foreign and defence ministers, as well as secretaries of security councils.

He described the issue of Armenia as potentially one of the most publicly interesting topics at the upcoming meetings, although not necessarily the main item on the agenda.

Asked whether the issue would be discussed next week, Pankin said it was likely to be considered, provided that all other member states agreed to include it in the agenda.

Earlier, Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan told parliament that he supported Armenia’s removal from the CSTO and would welcome such a development. He also stated that Yerevan did not intend to participate actively in the organization’s activities over the next five years.

Armenia had previously announced that it was "freezing" its participation in the CSTO. In December 2024, Pashinyan said that the country’s relations with the organization had passed the point of no return.

The distinction means that the country remains a member of the organisation while declining to participate in its work.