Lavrov declared the preservation of fundamental rights Yerevan while depriving it of its voice in the CSTO

Armenia will retain the right to use the basic rights granted to it by membership in the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO), even if it is deprived of a voice in this structure due to non-payment of contributions. This was announced on November 10 by Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov following a joint meeting of the CSTO.

"I want to emphasize that even after making this decision (depriving Yerevan of its voice. — Ed.), the Armenian colleagues will actually retain all the basic rights under the Collective Security Treaty, including the right to collective security itself," he stated.

Lavrov added that the relevant issue would be raised as early as November 11 at a session of the Collective Security Council. He recalled that for two years now, starting in 2024, Armenia has not paid membership fees, for which, in accordance with Article 25 of the CSTO charter, it faces the suspension of the right to nominate its citizens to quota positions in the organization's bodies and the deprivation of the right to vote until the debt is fully repaid.

Don't drive for a contribution: Armenia may remain without the right to vote in the CSTO

Will Yerevan decide to withdraw from the organization and will it be able to find an alternative to the previous security guarantees?

Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Alexander Pankin stated on November 6 that Armenia could be deprived of the right to vote in the CSTO. Describing the nature of the possible measures, he called them purely technical. On the same day, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov drew attention to the fact that Yerevan does not de facto participate in the work of the CSTO and clarified that there are no further security relations with it.

The day before, Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan stated that the republic's interest in the CSTO had dried up. Then, talking to journalists, he asked them to fix the voiced moment once and for all.