Armenia will not be subject to financial penalties in the event of non-repayment of the debt incurred in CSTO

It is now certain that the Republic of Armenia will not participate in the CSTO “Cobalt-2024” military exercises to be held in Novosibirsk on August 14-16, and also in the CSTO “Cooperation-2024” command staff drills to be held in Kyrgyzstan on September 3-15.

Previously, Armenia had not participated in the meeting of the Council of Ministers of Foreign Affairs of the CSTO member states held on June 21 in Almaty, Kazakhstan. Neither had Armenia participated in the session of the Council of Defense Ministers of the CSTO held in May either.

The supreme authority of Armenia has repeatedly announced freezing of membership in the CSTO. “In our opinion, the Collective Security Treaty Organization has not fulfilled its security obligations towards the Republic of Armenia. In particular, in 2021, 2022, and it could not be without consequences. And the consequence is that we have actually frozen our participation in the Collective Security Treaty Organization. We will see what happens tomorrow,”  RA Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan said in an interview with France 24 on February 22.

During the question-and-answer session with the Government in the National Assembly, he continued: “Armenia has de facto frozen its membership in the CSTO, and if this process continues, it will freeze de jure as well.”

The Fact Investigation Platform asked the Armenian Ministry of Foreign Affairs whether there are any discussions on how long Armenia’s membership in the CSTO will continue to remain frozen. “The decision on Armenia’s membership in the CSTO belongs to the Republic of Armenia,” the Foreign Ministry said in response.

To our other question as to how much the CSTO membership fee is for 2024 and whether the Armenian side has paid or is going to pay it, the MFA responded: “The Armenian side has officially informed the CSTO Secretariat that it will refrain from signing the decision of the CSTO Council on “The CSTO 2024 Budget” and participating in the financing of the activities of the organization provided for by the budget. The Republic of Armenia did not undertake any financial obligations by signing the decision on the 2024 budget of the CSTO adopted in the limited format of the CSTO Council.”

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs did not provide information about the amount of the membership fee. However, according to Russian sources, the share of financial payment of Armenia in the CSTO for 2024 makes up 53.22 million rubles (approx. USD 603 thousand).

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs also informed that no financial penalties are provided for in the event of non-payment of the debt to the CSTO budget.

Article 24 of the CSTO Charter stipulates that the budget of the organization is formed by distributed contributions of member states.

The draft budget of the Organization for each budget year is developed by the Secretariat in agreement with the member states in accordance with the regulations on the procedure for the formation and execution of the budget of the Organization. The budget is approved by the Board of the organization. The procedure on the organization budget formation and implementation procedure is approved by the Council.

Member states shall bear the expenses related to the participation of their representatives and experts in the meetings held within the framework of the Organization, meetings of the Organization’s bodies and other events, as well as the expenses related to the activities of permanent representatives.

And Article 25 of the Charter stipulates that in the event that the member states do not fulfill their obligations to repay the debt to the organization’s budget within two years, the Council shall adopt a decision to suspend the right to nominate citizens of that state to quota-based positions within the organization, as well as to deprive them of the right to vote in the organization’s bodies, until the debt is fully paid.

Note that on May 8 of this year, RA Foreign Ministry spokesperson Ani Badalyan announced that Armenia will refrain from participating in the financing of CSTO activities: “The Republic of Armenia will refrain from joining the decision of November 23, 2023 of the CSTO Collective Security Council on “The 2024 budget of the Collective Security Treaty Organization” and participating in the financing of the organization’s activities provided for by it, while not objecting to the adoption of this decision in a limited format.”

Later, on July 13, Viktor Vasilev, Permanent Representative of Russia in the CSTO, commenting on the situation related to Armenia’s contribution to the organization’s budget, announced that despite Yerevan’s decision not to pay the CSTO membership fee this year, the amount of the 2025 membership fee will be calculated and presented to Armenia.

Armenia’s grievances with the CSTO are mainly due to the fact that Armenia did not receive the support that should have been provided to guarantee Armenia’s security, especially when border tensions with Azerbaijan escalated. Armenia’s decision to freeze its CSTO membership and freeze funding reflects deep concerns about the effectiveness of the organization.

The events of the last months, the statements of the highest authority of the Republic of Armenia, the behind-the-scenes moods show that the country is heading towards terminating CSTO membership. In response to our inquiry, the RA Ministry of Foreign Affairs noted: “Public awareness of the official position of the Armenian side will be ensured, as necessary and in accordance with the established procedure, after the discussions on the draft decision are finalized.”

Syuzanna Hambardzumyan