Moscow on Wednesday warned that Armenia could be stripped of its voting rights as a member of the Collective Security Treaty Organization, if it does not meet its financial obligations to the Russia-led group.
Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan said earlier this year that his government was freezing its membership in the CSTO, citing the group’s failures to heed Yerevan’s appeals when Azerbaijani forces breached Armenia’s borders and advanced onto its sovereign territory in 2021 and 2022.
Despite Russian assurances that the group’s doors are open to Armenia, Pashinyan last week doubled down and said Yerevan’s relations with the CSTO were at a “point of no return.”
Yerevan has also indicated that it has not fulfilled its financial obligations to the CSTO.
During a press briefing on Wednesday, Russian foreign ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova said that CSTO member states that fail to make their financial obligations for two years may be deprived of their voting rights.
While not mentioning Armenia by name, she emphasized that the financial obligations were mandated by the CSTO charter.
“This approach is similar to the practice of the United Nations,” Zakharova explained, stressing that the CSTO budget was derived from the payments from member-states.
“Russia covers half of the CSTO budget, and the other member states contribute the 10 percent each. No form of refusal or delay of payments is accepted. The amount not transferred for the current year constitutes a debt,” Zakharova explained.
