PM Pashinyan says Armenia's participation in CSTO suspended

YEREVAN. Feb 26 (Interfax) - Armenia has frozen its participation in the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO), but is not considering the Russian military base's possible withdrawal from its territory, Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan said on February 23.

"The CSTO's reaction did not match the reality in relation to Armenia, particularly in 2021 and 2022 [military clashes on the Armenian-Azerbaijani border], and that obviously could not go unnoticed by Armenia. We have now practically frozen our participation in this treaty, in this organization. As for what comes next [...], we shall see," Pashinyan said in an interview with the France 24 television channel.

When speaking about Russia's 102nd military base, stationed in the Armenian city of Gyumri, Pashinyan said that its presence is not regulated by the Collective Security Treaty.

"This is actually another treaty, this is the subject of another treaty, and we are not speaking about that at this point," he said.