CSTO Summit Strips Armenia of Voting Rights Over Unpaid Membership Dues

The announcement came after a Kremlin session of the Collective Security Council chaired by Russian President Vladimir Putin, which Armenia did not attend. Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan was in Antalya, Türkiye, for the COP31 climate summit.

Unpaid Dues Since 2024

Peskov did not immediately release the full text of the decision. A day earlier, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said CSTO foreign ministers would put a draft to the heads of state under Article 25 of the organization’s charter.

Lavrov said Yerevan had “failed to pay its annual membership dues since 2024,” more than two years of arrears. The draft, he said, provided for stripping Armenia of voting rights and suspending its right to nominate citizens for quota-based posts in CSTO bodies until the debt is repaid in full.

Yerevan Freezes Its Role

Armenia froze its participation in the Russia-led alliance in February 2024 and stopped paying contributions. Yerevan has boycotted CSTO activities since 2022, accusing the bloc of failing to assist it after Azerbaijani military operations against Armenian territory.

On Nov. 5, asked how Armenia would react if the council applied Article 25, Pashinyan told reporters: “I want us to state once and for all that our interest in the CSTO has run its course.”

He has said Yerevan does not intend to resume active participation and would not object if the organization moved to expel Armenia, while stopping short of a formal withdrawal. He has also set out a possible formal European Union membership application in 2027 or 2028.

Moscow Leaves the Door Open

Lavrov said that even after such a decision, Armenia would retain “all the main rights under the Collective Security Treaty, including the right to collective security itself.”

“We are not slamming the door shut,” he told reporters on Nov. 10. He said Armenia had not submitted an official request to leave the CSTO or the Eurasian Economic Union. “If they want us to expel Armenia, we will not do that,” he added.

Earlier on Wednesday, Peskov said it was “clear that Armenia isn’t participating in the CSTO’s activities” and that “the CSTO will respond accordingly.” He also noted that Yerevan had not started a withdrawal process. In August, Pashinyan had already said he would welcome a decision by the alliance to remove Armenia.

The other leaders present in Moscow were the presidents of Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, and Tajikistan. The session also adopted a council declaration and agreed that Tajikistan will take over the CSTO chairmanship from Russia on Jan. 1, 2027.