Matviyenko: Armenia`s claims against the CSTO are unfounded

ArmInfo. Armenia's claims against the CSTO are unfounded and are an attempt to shift responsibility for Nagorno-Karabakh to the organization and Russia. Yerevan will lose a lot if it leaves the organization, according to Federation Council Speaker Valentin Matviyenko.

"It seems to me that this unfounded resentment toward the CSTO during the recent war between Armenia and Azerbaijan is an attempt, in my view, to shift responsibility for Karabakh to Russia and the CSTO." "Under those conditions, the CSTO acted, again, strictly in accordance with its statutory documents," Matviyenko told reporters in Hanoi on Thursday, Interfax reports.

According to her, it is Yerevan's right to retain its membership in the CSTO, but if the decision is negative, "Armenia will lose a lot."

On November 11, the CSTO countries decided to apply Article 25 of the organization's Charter to Armenia, which provides for the deprivation of voting rights and the ability to appoint its representatives to positions of responsibility. CSTO Secretary General Taalatbek Masadykov stated that Armenia could restore its participation in the organization after resolving the issue of paying its dues. The final decision, however, rests with the republic's leadership. Armenia itself did not participate in the meeting.

As a reminder, Armenia has been boycotting CSTO events since the end of 2022. In February 2024, Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan declared that Armenia had effectively frozen its participation in the CSTO, as the organization had failed to fulfill its obligations to Armenia, which could not go without consequences. And on September 18, 2024, at the Second World Armenian Summit, Pashinyan declared that the CSTO posed threats to Armenia's security, its continued existence, sovereignty, and statehood.