Armenia continues to navigate the rather complex and challenging landscape of international relations. Developments are unfolding extremely rapidly, while tensions across the international arena remain at their highest levels. A great deal has happened concerning Armenia in just the past few days.
In Europe, Armenia’s prime minister announced that the country could officially apply for European Union membership within the next two years. On the very same day, it became known that Russian President Vladimir Putin was convening a summit of the leaders of the member states of the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) in Moscow. Following the meeting, at which Armenia was represented at the level of deputy prime minister, Armenia was deprived of its voting rights but remained a member state.
It is well known that Armenia has issues with this organization. However, it has no intention of voluntarily withdrawing from the CSTO and is instead waiting for the organization to make an appropriate decision regarding Armenia.
Even before the meeting with Putin, Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov had already outlined Russia’s position, which was precisely as I had described in one of my previous articles. According to Lavrov, the CSTO member states discussed Armenia’s failure to meet its financial obligations regarding membership contributions. He stated that Yerevan had not transferred funds to the organization’s budget since 2024. “We were forced to discuss Armenia’s failure to fulfill its obligations under the CSTO Charter with regard to annual contributions to the budget of our common organization,” the Russian foreign minister stated.
At the same time, Lavrov emphasized that even if a decision on this were adopted, Armenia would retain its right to collective security within the framework of the organization. The minister also stated that the CSTO member states had not received an official application from Armenia to withdraw from the organization. Russia has no intention of “expelling” Yerevan from the organization, Lavrov said.
Developments surrounding Iran are also unfolding rapidly. Iran has been quite active on the foreign policy front. As the country prepares for a possible military escalation, Iranian diplomacy has also become increasingly active. On the same day, Armenia’s Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan received a delegation led by Seyed Hamid Pourmohammadi, vice president of the Islamic Republic of Iran, while Vladimir Putin received Mohsen Rezaei, secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council. Days later, the Armenian prime minister met with the Iranian president. I have no doubt that the main subject of their discussions was the Trump Route for International Peace and Prosperity (TRIPP) project.
