The “freezing” of Armenia’s participation in the CSTO is a political, not a legal assessment. Thus, the head of the Commission on Foreign Relations of the Armenian Parliament, Sarkis Khandanyan, commented on the statements of Russian officials that there are no legal procedures for “freezing” and Yerevan must specify its position. The chairman of the parliamentary commission recalled that there is currently no progress in relations between Armenia and the CSTO, and Yerevan has not participated in the organization’s activities for more than a year.

Recently, Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan said in an interview with France24 that his country’s participation in the Moscow-dominated CSTO military-political bloc has been frozen. “The collective security treaty, in our opinion, was not implemented in relation to Armenia. We have suspended our participation in this agreement,” Pashinyan said.

Armenia’s non-participation in the CSTO actually means a freeze in relations, the head of the country’s parliament, Alen Simonyan, noted after this. “My personal opinion is that the CSTO has turned itself off and is not functioning,” Simonyan said.