"Armenia long ago ceased its work in the CSTO": Mirzoyan on Bordyuzha's statement

Armenia long ago ceased its participation in the work of the CSTO and froze its membership in the organization.

This was stated by Foreign Minister Ararat Mirzoyan, commenting on the words of former CSTO Secretary General Nikolai Bordyuzha about the need to expel Armenia from the organization.

"We do not see the possibility of returning to the organization and changing our attitude," Mirzoyan said at a joint briefing with his Slovenian counterpart in Yerevan, Sputnik Armenia reports.

"Armenia should be expelled from the CSTO, since the republic effectively does not participate in the organization's activities, but at the same time retains the right to influence the decisions that are made," former CSTO Secretary General Nikolai Bordyuzha expressed this opinion earlier in a conversation with RIA Novosti.

According to him, despite the freezing of its participation, Armenia formally remains a full member of the organization, where all decisions are made by consensus. Consequently, Yerevan's position still has to be taken into account, although it, in Bordyuzha's assessment, already contradicts the CSTO's activities.

"I would expel them. They don't pay dues, they don't take part. Seriously speaking, they should just go ahead and withdraw, if they are serious partners. But since they have an ambivalent position — that we will not withdraw and will not work, and we do not participate, and we do not want to — they must be expelled," Bordyuzha said.