Armenia’s Parliamentary Speaker Alen Simonyan has stated that the country is ‘de facto’ no longer part of the Russia-led Collective Security Treaty Organisation (CSTO), contradicting recent remarks from the Foreign Ministry that a withdrawal process has not been initiated.
Simonyan spoke to reporters in parliament on Wednesday saying that Armenia’s absence from the CSTO summit in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan shows the current status of its ties with the bloc.
“We are de facto out. As for the rest leave it to our political expediency and our negotiations,” he said Wednesday clarifying that Yerevan is choosing non-participation while leaving formal steps to future negotiations.
His comments followed public statements from Russia on Monday when Yuri Ushakov an aide to President Vladimir Putin confirmed that Armenia would skip the Bishkek meeting, though the country had not opposed signing previously agreed CSTO documents. A day later, on Tuesday, Deputy Foreign Minister Mnatsakan Safaryan reiterated that withdrawal was not on the ministry’s agenda stating that Armenia has not been tasked or instructed to begin formal exit procedures. “Everyone will know if such developments occur,” Safaryan said adding that the ministry has not yet received a withdrawal mandate from the government.
Armenia first froze its membership in February 2024 accusing the CSTO of failing to respond to its security concerns after border clashes with Azerbaijan. Since then Armenia has stopped financing the CSTO and Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan described exit as the ‘next logical step’ in June 2024 followed by further warnings in September that Armenia’s relations with the pact were nearing ‘irreversibility’. Moscow and the Kremlin continue to reject claims that the organisation threatened Armenia’s sovereignty insisting that CSTO poses ‘no threat’ to its member countries.
On Wednesday Simonyan commented on issues beyond the bloc. He said he would consider traveling to Azerbaijan at an appropriate time and would consider inviting his Azerbaijani parliamentary counterpart to Armenia if an invitation from Baku were issued.
On the issue of captives, Simonyan reported that Azerbaijan officially confirmed 23 Armenians are still in custody down sharply from nearly 200 detainees held after the 2020 Second Nagorno-Karabakh War. Ushakov noted that 23 Armenian captives remain in custody, including former officials from Nagorno-Karabakh.
He expressed confidence that ‘one day the number will reach zero’, emphasizing that the Armenian government ‘has done and will do everything’ to return all prisoners.
