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Armenia has no plans to withdraw from the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO), but the Moscow-led security bloc is abandoning the country, Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan said at a press conference on Tuesday.

"During his trip to Armenia in 2022, the CSTO head told me the CSTO was concerned that Armenia would leave the organization. I said that those concerns were groundless, but the concerns that Armenia had about the CSTO leaving Armenia were justified,” he said. “My assessment is that the CSTO is leaving Armenia wittingly or unwittingly, which worries us.”

Pashinyan said that Armenia would agree to appoint its representative as CSTO deputy secretary general once it was confident that the move would help strengthen the country’s security. He noted that Armenia continued to consistently work with the CSTO.

The CSTO members are Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia and Tajikistan.