The CSTO retains all obligations to Armenia, the country remains an ally of the organization, Secretary General of the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) Imangali Tasmagambetov told reporters on Friday, June 21.

“Armenia was and is our ally in the CSTO, and all our obligations to Armenia remain. But the issue of membership in the organization is the sovereign right and decision of the country,” he said on the sidelines of the organization’s Council of Ministers of Foreign Affairs, Tass reports.

Tasmagambetov also expressed hope that Yerevan “will still clarify the situation” regarding its membership in the CSTO and make an official decision “to be part of the organization or not to be.”

Earlier, Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan said that the next logical step in relations with the CSTO would be withdrawal from the organization. Press Secretary of the Russian President Dmitry Peskov, in turn, expressed hope that alliance and partnership will continue to prevail in relations between Moscow and Yerevan.