By Ilya Arkhipov | Updated on Jun 10, 2026 at 04:09 PM
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov warned that Armenia may have to forfeit membership rights in the Collective Security Treaty Organization, an alliance of six former Soviet states, as tensions between Moscow and Yerevan continue to rise.
“Armenia has been indebted to the CSTO budget for more than two years,” Lavrov said at a press conference in Kazan, Russia, on Wednesday after a meeting of member states’ foreign ministers. “We agreed that we would consider invoking the respective article of the CSTO Charter,” he said, referencing the treaty section that allows the suspension of certain rights of countries in the Moscow-led military bloc if they fail to pay dues to the organization on time.
Lavrov’s comments are the latest in a series of threats from Moscow, which is openly frustrated with Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan’s desire to draw his country closer to Europe and the US. Armenia, once one of Russia’s closest regional allies, effectively froze participation in the CSTO in 2023, triggering hostile responses from Russian officials and state media.
Since then, Yerevan has taken steps to strengthen cooperation with the North Atlantic Treaty Organization.
Armenia has grown less willing to depend on Russia and President Vladimir Putin as a security guarantor following its defeat in a 2020 war with Azerbaijan that eventually led to the 2023 loss of Nagorno-Karabakh and the exodus of the territory’s Armenian population.
Pashinyan claimed victory in his country’s parliamentary elections held on Sunday, with results showing his party on course to hold 64 of the 105 seats. Two opposition parties led by pro-Russian politicians also entered the National Assembly.
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The CSTO also counts Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan as members. All are heavily dependent on the Kremlin for aspects of their security.