Armenia’s prime minister declared Wednesday his intention to withdraw from the Russia-led security alliance of six former Soviet states.
Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian told parliament his government would later decide when to leave the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO), a group that includes Russia, Belarus and the former Soviet Central Asian countries of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan.
Amid growing tensions with Russia, Armenia had previously frozen its participation in the alliance, canceled its participation in joint military exercises and snubbed CSTO summits.
On Wednesday, Nikol Pashinian said for the first time that Armenia would completely leave the CSTO during a question-and-answer session in parliament, saying the government would decide later when to make the final decision. There was no immediate comment from Russian authorities.
Armenia’s ties with Russia, its longtime ally, have become increasingly strained after Azerbaijan waged a lightning military campaign in September to take the Karabakh region, ending three decades of rule Armenian separatist.
Armenian authorities have accused Russian peacekeepers deployed to Nagorno-Karabakh after a previous round of hostilities in 2020 of failing to stop Azerbaijan’s attack. Moscow, which has a military base in Armenia, rejected the accusations, arguing that its troops had no mandate to intervene.
The Kremlin, in turn, is angered by Nikol Pashinian’s efforts to deepen Armenia’s ties with the West and distance his country from Moscow-dominated alliances.
Russia has been particularly upset by Armenia’s decision to join the International Criminal Court, which last year indicted Putin for war crimes linked to Russian actions in Ukraine.
Moscow, occupied by the three-year-old Ukrainian conflict, has publicly expressed concern about Armenia’s westward shift but has sought to downplay the differences.
Nikol Pashinian’s decision comes as he faces a wave of large protests demanding his resignation following his government’s decision to cede four border villages to Azerbaijan as part of an effort to negotiate a deal peace with his long-time adversary.