Armenia refuses to sign CSTO budget decision

PanARMENIAN.Net - Armenia has officially notified the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) that it will neither sign the 2024 budget decision nor participate in the organization's financing, according to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, as reported by Sputnik Armenia.

"The Armenian side has officially informed the CSTO Secretariat that it will refrain from signing the CSTO Collective Security Council decision 'On the CSTO 2024 Budget' and from participating in financing the organization’s activities as outlined in the decision," the ministry said.

It was also noted that, according to CSTO internal procedures, information about the annual budget is not public.

Earlier, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Alexander Pankin stated that if Armenia does not pay its membership fee by the end of 2025, member states of the organization may consider various scenarios.

On May 8, Armenia’s Foreign Ministry announced its decision not to participate in financing CSTO activities. Later, on June 14, Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan declared that the next logical step could be Armenia’s withdrawal from the organization. On September 18, during the World Armenian Summit, Pashinyan stated that Armenia's relationship with CSTO was approaching an irreversible stage, arguing that the organization’s operations had turned into a threat to the country’s sovereignty.

The Kremlin responded to the Prime Minister’s comments. Dmitry Peskov, press secretary for the Russian president, emphasized that the CSTO poses no threat and is in fact designed to protect the sovereignty of its member states.