Russia-led military alliance strips Armenia of voting rights

Member states of the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) have stripped Armenia of its voting rights within the organization. Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov was among the first to announce the move. The decision is also recorded in the declaration issued after the organization’s summit in Moscow.

“Because Armenia has failed to meet its obligations for several years now, and in accordance with the organization’s charter, it was proposed and decided to strip Armenia of its voting rights, as well as its right to appoint representatives to senior positions within the CSTO,” he told Life correspondent Alexander Yunashev.

Armenia’s membership in the CSTO has been in question for several years. Yerevan froze its membership in the organization in 2024, after Azerbaijan took control of Nagorno-Karabakh and ethnic Armenians living there were forced to flee.

Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan has said: “In effect, we already consider ourselves outside the CSTO.” He has also said he would “be glad” if the organization expelled Armenia. “This will free us from the dilemma of ‘whether to leave or not,’” he said.

CSTO Secretary General Taalatbek Masadykov added that the question of expelling Armenia from the organization was not on the agenda at the Moscow summit.

In recent years, Nikol Pashinyan has consistently pushed for Armenia to move closer to the West, including the European Union. Amid this, Russia has also raised questions about Armenia’s membership in the Eurasian Economic Union, since Moscow considers simultaneous membership in the EU and the Eurasian Economic Union impossible. Pashinyan has said Armenia will continue working within the Eurasian Economic Union “until the choice between the European Union and the Eurasian Economic Union becomes unavoidable.”