Armenia stops participating in financing of Collective Security Treaty Organization
- In Reports
- 11:52 AM, May 09, 2024
- Myind Staff
On Wednesday, Armenia announced that it has stopped its financial contributions to the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) following its decision to effectively suspend its membership in the Russian-led military alliance.
“Armenia will refrain from signing up to the November 23, 2023, decision on the CSTO budget for 2024 and, thereby, from participating in the financing of the organization’s activities,” Armenian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Ani Badalian told several media outlets, including Armenia’s Public Television.
At the same time, Badalian stated that Yerevan will not stop other member states, such as Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, and Tajikistan, from doing so.
For over a year, Armenia has refrained from participating in high-level meetings, military drills, and other engagements of the CSTO, which Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian described in February as an effective suspension of its membership in the organization.
Following this, the Prime Minister reiterated multiple times that he might withdraw Armenia from the alliance of six former Soviet states entirely unless it addressed Yerevan’s concerns.
The Russian Foreign Ministry stressed last week that Armenia formally remains a full-fledged member of the CSTO and must therefore “fulfill appropriate obligations” to the organization.
Armenia formally requested support from Russia and other CSTO member states after Azerbaijan initiated offensive military actions along the Armenian-Azerbaijani border in September 2022. Yerevan has consistently accused them of ignoring the request, while Moscow denies such claims.
The threats to leave the CSTO reflect Armenia’s deepening rift with Moscow.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov charged in March that Pashinian’s administration is “leading things to the collapse of Russian-Armenian relations” at the behest of the West.
Pashinian and other Armenian leaders assert that they are merely "diversifying" their foreign and security policies due to what they perceive as Russia's failure to fulfill its security commitments to the South Caucasus nation.
Coincidentally, Pashinian is visiting Moscow on May 8 to chair the summit of another Russian-led grouping – the Eurasian Economic Union (EEU) – in which Armenia currently holds the rotating presidency. Other members of the EEU are Belarus, Kazakhstan, and Kyrgyzstan.
The Kremlin later confirmed that Russian President Vladimir Putin and Pashinian had engaged in face-to-face discussions during the session.
"On our bilateral relations are developing quite successfully," Putin told Pashinian, according to AFP.
The Russian leader said "We always, first and foremost, pay attention to economic cooperation," without mentioning tensions between the two nations.
Image source: Wikipedia
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