Armenia Stripped of Voting Rights in CSTO — Peskov

Armenia has been stripped of its voting rights in the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) due to its “failure to fulfil its obligations.” Kremlin Press Secretary Dmitry Peskov made the statement following a meeting of the CSTO Collective Security Council.

“A decision has been made. Indeed, the issue was raised and, well, the Secretary General will probably provide details now. But because Armenia has failed to fulfil its obligations for several years, and guided by the organization’s charter, it was proposed that Armenia be stripped of its rights. And it was decided to strip Armenia of its voting rights, as well as its right to appoint representatives to senior positions in the CSTO,” Peskov told Russian propagandist Alexander Yunashev.

CSTO Secretary General Taalatbek Masadykov noted that the issue of expelling Armenia from the organization had not been discussed at the summit.

It should be recalled that Armenia has officially frozen its participation in the CSTO. The decision was made following the organization’s response to the escalation between Armenia and Azerbaijan several years ago, which Yerevan deemed unsatisfactory. In August this year, Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan said he would welcome a CSTO decision to expel his country, as this would spare the Armenian authorities the dilemma of whether or not to leave the organization.