News - Russia MFA: Armenia continues to be full member of CSTO

Armenia continues to be a full member of the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO). The official representative of the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA), Maria Zakharova, stated this at a press briefing Wednesday. Answering the question that if one of the CSTO members announces the freezing of membership, what the consequences might be for violating this organization's charter, in particular, the deployment of a NATO mission, Zakharova said. "I know only one member [i.e. Armenia] of the CSTO countries that says that the CSTO is leaving its country, then it itself is leaving the CSTO, then is considered a participant, then freezes, various verbal equilibristics. We hear it only from the Yerevan authorities." Relying on the documents, Zakharova reminded that Armenia remains a full member of the CSTO and is bound by the framework of normative obligations, including the Collective Security Treaty, charter, and several other documents. "I want to remind also that, among other things, the CSTO Charter, as well as the corresponding protocol signed by the [CSTO countries’] leaders in 2011, provides that a CSTO member state can make a decision to deploy troops of third countries or external infrastructure facilities in its territory only after urgent consultations or after coordination; in other words, with other CSTO member countries. As for the possible consequences for the state in case of breach of [CSTO] obligations, they are also clearly recorded. One can talk about the suspension of such a state's participation in the activities of the CSTO bodies by the decision of the CSTO, and there can also be expulsion. I am talking now about what is written in the documents," explained the Russian MFA official representative. To note, there is no NATO mission, but an EU civilian monitoring mission in Armenia to observe the situation on the country’s border with Azerbaijan after the latter’s September 2022 military aggression.