Armenia should be removed from the CSTO – Nikolai Bordyuzha

“If they suspend their participation but do not withdraw, they remain full members of the CSTO. As long as they remain full members, all decisions – which are made by consensus – must take their position into account. Yet their current position is in significant contradiction with what is happening within the CSTO,” Bordyuzha emphasized.

In his view, the right course of action for Yerevan would be to withdraw from the CSTO entirely. If Armenia fails to do so, the organization itself should take the initiative.

“I would remove them. They do not pay their membership fees or participate in the organization’s work. In fact, they should simply get up and leave,” the former CSTO Secretary General stated.

Earlier, CSTO Secretary General Taalatbek Masadykov said that the issue of Armenia’s withdrawal could be raised at a meeting of the CSTO Collective Security Council scheduled to take place in Moscow on November 11.

The CSTO currently comprises Russia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, and Tajikistan. Armenia has announced that it is “freezing” its membership – a status not provided for in the organization’s charter – and has stopped paying its membership fees.