Armenia Demonstratively Fails to Pay Its CSTO Membership Fee: Zatulin

Armenia is demonstratively failing to pay its membership fee to the CSTO. This opinion was expressed to gazeta.ru by Konstantin Zatulin, the first deputy chairman of the State Duma's Committee on CIS Affairs, Eurasian Integration and Relations with Compatriots.

He noted that Yerevan aims to realign towards the West, but at the same time continues to leverage its economic ties with Russia. “I believe that the non-payment of membership fees is not the most important reason to discuss Armenia's actual participation in the CSTO. It is clear that they are not paying the fees deliberately because they have generally suspended any cooperation within the CSTO, but at the same time, they continue to remain in the Eurasian Union and, moreover, are trying to prove to their population that it is possible to abandon military and political cooperation with Russia, realign towards the West, while still enjoying economic ties and development based on relations with Russia and other CSTO and Eurasian Union countries,” he said.

Zatulin stated that Armenia's fate and direction will be determined in the elections scheduled for next year. Earlier, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Alexander Pankin had announced that if Armenia does not pay its membership fees to the CSTO budget by the end of 2025, member countries might discuss various scenarios.