"The CSTO’s decision on whether or not to expel Armenia is a decision for the CSTO Collective Security Council, whose members are the supreme commanders of our member states. The decision is theirs. But I believe that all circumstances and factors should always be taken into account when making decisions," he noted.

Earlier, Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan said in parliament that he favored Armenia’s expulsion from the CSTO and would be pleased if that happened. Presenting the government’s program for 2026-2031 in parliament, the Armenian prime minister said that the country did not intend to step up its participation in the CSTO over the next five years.

According to him, Armenia’s interest in the CSTO has run its course. At the same time, the Armenian prime minister gave a vague answer when asked what Armenia planned to replace its CSTO membership with - strengthening relations with Turkey and Azerbaijan or applying for NATO membership, which the country has not been invited to pursue.

In September 2024, Pashinyan said that Yerevan had frozen its participation in the CSTO because, he claimed, the organization had created threats to the country’s sovereignty. In October 2024, Armenian Foreign Minister Ararat Mirzoyan said at an international security forum in Warsaw that Yerevan was assessing all the risks associated with a decision to withdraw from the CSTO. In December of the same year, the Armenian prime minister said that relations between Armenia and the CSTO had passed the point of no return.

On June 10, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said that the CSTO member states had agreed to consider applying the relevant provision of the organization’s charter to Armenia over the country’s failure to pay its membership dues for two years. On August 11, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Galuzin told TASS in an interview that the issue of suspending Armenia’s voting rights in the CSTO could be considered at the organization’s summit on November 11.