Armenia Is Leaving the CSTO?

In the Caucasus country, officials believe that the Collective Security Treaty is not being upheld with regard to Armenia and say they are ready to leave the organization. Yerevan also plans to expel Russian border guards from the country’s main airport, Zvartnots.

Recently, statements from Armenia’s leadership about the possible “freezing” of the country’s membership in the CSTO (Collective Security Treaty Organization) have been growing louder.

These statements emerged against the backdrop of the Organization’s failure to provide Yerevan with the necessary military assistance during the armed conflict with Azerbaijan.

Thus, in an interview with France 24, when asked by a French journalist about plans to withdraw Armenia from the CSTO, which is “dominated by Moscow,” Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan accused the Kremlin of failing to meet its obligations toward his country.

“The Collective Security Treaty, in our view, was not implemented with regard to Armenia, especially in 2021–2022. This could not go unnoticed. We have suspended our participation in this treaty. We will see what happens next,” Anadolu Agency quoted Pashinyan as saying.

Stating that Armenia cannot tolerate unlawful actions on its territory, Pashinyan warned of “consequences” if Yerevan’s demands remain unanswered.

Meanwhile, the CSTO Secretariat suggested that by declaring a “freeze” of its membership, Armenia is distancing itself from activities carried out by the organization.

For their part, experts commenting on Pashinyan’s statement do not rule out that Armenia—especially amid diversification of its security partnerships—may at some point decide to withdraw from the CSTO altogether.

While the prime minister was making such high-profile statements during his visit to France, a stone was also thrown in Moscow’s direction by Armenian Parliament Speaker Alen Simonyan. In particular, on February 27 he stated the need to withdraw Russian border guards from the capital’s Zvartnots airport, expressing doubts about the CSTO’s ability to protect Armenia’s borders if necessary.

“I think it would be right if they (the Russian border guards) left there,” Simonyan said to journalists, noting that the issue had not been discussed with Moscow.

Forced to respond to these remarks, the Kremlin is currently busy—at least according to its officials—clarifying what these statements mean for the CSTO in general and for Russia in particular.

However, Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova has already commented on the Armenian parliament speaker’s remarks.

“We view this as yet another example of unfriendly behavior by a representative of official Yerevan; however, it is not entirely clear to what extent the speaker of the National Assembly is responsible for the topic he raised,” Zakharova said in response to Simonyan’s statement.

Meanwhile, further developments followed on March 6, when Armenian Security Council Secretary Armen Grigoryan told journalists that the country had confirmed its plans regarding Russian border guards and said that Armenia had officially notified Russia of this in a written letter.

Thus, further deterioration of relations between Yerevan and Moscow cannot be ruled out.

According to a Gallup International Association poll, 40.3% of surveyed Armenian citizens believe the country does not need membership in either the CSTO or NATO. At the same time, support for joining the North Atlantic Alliance is not insignificant—22.5%, while 28% of respondents favored continuing CSTO membership.

As a reminder, on May 15, 1992, in Tashkent, the leadership of post-Soviet independent sovereign states (Armenia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan) signed the Collective Security Treaty (CST).

The core provision of the treaty was Article 4, which stipulates that aggression against one of the parties would be regarded by all participants as aggression against all CST members.

On May 14, 2002, the member states decided to establish a full-fledged international organization—the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO), headquartered in Moscow.

Since the end of the year before last, relations between Armenia and the CSTO have rapidly deteriorated. The situation worsened further after, in January 2023, Yerevan announced it would not host the planned CSTO military exercises due to the “current situation in the country.”