Armenia sees the Russian-led military bloc Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) as a threat to Armenia's existence, Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan said Wednesday.
"We have frozen our membership of the CSTO not only because the CSTO is not fulfilling its obligations to ensure Armenia's security, but also because the CSTO is creating threats to Armenia's security, continued existence and statehood," Pashinyan told Armenian news agency Armenpress.
Armenia put its membership in the Moscow-dominated CSTO on hold in February after Azerbaijan gained complete control of the Karabakh region last year and amid growing tensions with Moscow.
However, according to Pashinyan, the rift with the military alliance has been simmering for two years, with Armenia still waiting for answers to questions on its security, he said.
The longer the silence continues, the further Armenia will move away from the military alliance, Pashinyan said, hinting the likelihood of a permanent split was high.
Armenia was one of the founding members of the CSTO established in 1992 following the collapse of the Soviet Union.
Besides Russia, the CSTO consists of Kazakhstan, Belarus, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan.
Russia was long considered Armenia's protective power in the Caucasus region, including in the conflict over Karabakh, but relations have cooled considerably since Pashinyan first took office in 2018.
Armenia occupied Nagorno-Karabakh, which comprises about 4,500 square kilometers within Azerbaijan, for three decades, until Azerbaijan liberated it in a successful military operation. It is internationally recognized as part of Azerbaijan.
However, despite a Russian peacekeeping force stationed in the region, Moscow remained passive in the two most recent armed conflicts between Yerevan and Baku over Karabakh.
