Armenia denies rumors about withdrawal of Russian military base

Currently, Yerevan is not discussing the issue of withdrawing the Russian military base from the territory of Armenia. This was stated to journalists by the speaker of the Armenian parliament, Alen Simonyan.

“There is nothing like that... This is absurd, I am hearing this from you for the first time. This is not being discussed,” Simonyan said.

At the same time, he recalled that a clause in the text of the peace treaty with Azerbaijan provides for a refusal to deploy foreign forces on the border, but this has nothing to do with the base located in the city of Gyumri.

Recall that in 2024, Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan announced the freezing of Armenia's participation in the CSTO. Later, the Foreign Ministry reported that the country would not participate in financing the bloc. In early 2025, a report by the Foreign Intelligence Service of Armenia noted that the country does not intend to unfreeze its membership in the organization.

The Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) is a regional international organization created to "protect the independence, sovereignty and territorial integrity" of its member states. The bloc includes the Russian Federation, Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan. Since last year, Armenia has not actually participated in the activities of the CSTO.