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Armenia will make “final decisions” regarding the CSTO if the treaty allies fail to make political statements regarding the Azerbaijani occupation of sovereign Armenian territories, Deputy Foreign Minister Vahan Kostanyan told reporters.
The Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) failed to respond to the series of unprovoked Azeri attacks and invasions into Armenia after the 2020 Nagorno-Karabakh war. Parts of several Armenian provinces have been under Azeri occupation since. Armenia froze its membership to the CSTO after these developments in 2024 because the CSTO even failed to condemn or acknowledge the Azeri attack and subsequent occupation. PM Pashinyan said the CSTO poses a threat to Armenia’s security, sovereignty, statehood and its very existence.
“Regarding the CSTO, we don’t simply hint, we say directly that this can’t go on forever. After all, if the CSTO colleagues, including Russia, don’t make political statements – which was raised after the attack against Armenia’s sovereign territory years earlier, then Armenia will make final decisions,” Kostanyan said.
Asked when Armenia would decide to withdraw from the CSTO, the Deputy FM said Yerevan will decide the appropriate moment in case of such decision being made.
“As a sovereign state, Armenia decides on its own when it is the right time to do any given step,” Kostanyan said.
Speaking about cooperation within the Eurasian Economic Union, Kostanyan said Armenia, a member of the union, continues to deepen its relations within the organization.