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CSTO Secretary General Talatbek Masadykov has urged caution over the possibility of Armenia being expelled from the organization, saying it is too early to speculate about the outcome.
“There is no need to make premature judgments about Yerevan’s possible withdrawal from the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO), because there is the position of the country’s leadership, and there is also the position of the Armenian people,” he told TASS.
Asked what decision could be expected at the CSTO Collective Security Council’s November meeting regarding Armenia’s membership in the organization, the secretary general said that the decision to “expel or not expel” a country from the organization is made by the heads of the CSTO member states.
“As the Secretariat, we cannot make a decision on behalf of one side or the other, so everything is still ahead. Whether this issue will be seriously discussed at the CSTO’s next meeting in Moscow this November is also a question: that should be decided by the heads of the states themselves. Let’s not get ahead of events,” he said.
He added that the organization is aware of statements made by Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan on the issue, but that events should not yet be prejudged.
The CSTO secretary general also reaffirmed that Armenia is effectively not participating in the organization’s discussions and activities.
“You know, we have been discussing this issue for a long time. Armenia currently does not participate in CSTO discussions. Armenia does not send its personnel, military personnel or CSTO Secretariat staff to quota positions, and Armenia has not paid its membership fees for three years now. But de jure, they remain a member of the Collective Security Treaty Organization,” he noted.
The secretary general, however, emphasized that Armenia has made a significant contribution to the development of the CSTO, and that at some point the Armenian people supported all the initiatives of the country’s leadership.
Earlier, Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan addressed the issue during discussions in parliament on the Armenian government’s 2026–2031 program, saying that Yerevan would not resume its activities in the CSTO and that its interest in the organization had been exhausted.
Pashinyan said Armenia had received no response to any of the questions it had raised with the organization.
“We have no plans to return to the CSTO in the next five years. I can say with confidence that we will not resume our activities in the CSTO. I know that discussions are taking place in the CSTO and that they may expel the country from the organization. I would be very happy if the organization decided to expel Armenia from the CSTO. It would free us from the dilemma of whether or not to leave,” Pashinyan said earlier at parliamentary debates, adding that the government’s 2026–2031 program contains not a single mention of the organization.
Armenia froze its participation in the CSTO’s activities in February 2024. Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan announced this in an interview with France 24, emphasizing that the CSTO had failed to fulfill its security obligations toward Armenia.