The Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) is not closing its doors to Armenia, and Yerevan will not be expelled from the bloc, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov told reporters following a joint meeting of the CSTO Council of Foreign Ministers, Council of Defense Ministers and Committee of Secretaries of Security Councils.

"As law-abiding people committed to our treaty obligations, today we agreed to submit to the heads of state for consideration a decision to suspend the hiring of Armenian nationals at the [CSTO] Secretariat and [to suspend] Armenia's voting rights in the CSTO, strictly in accordance with Article 25 of our organization's Charter, which states that if contributions to the CSTO budget are more than two years in arrears, the country must be stripped of its voting rights," Lavrov said, The Caspian Post reports, citing TASS.

" But we are not slamming the door shut," he added.

Lavrov also commented on Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan's statements regarding the country's possible rapprochement with the European Union.

"It seems to me that when [Armenian Prime Minister] Nikol Pashinyan says, 'Of course I am heading toward the European Union. I am being asked to hold a referendum so that the Armenian people can choose where they would be better off - in the Eurasian Economic Union or the EU. I will make that choice once I have formally submitted an application and received a response,' that will no longer be a choice; it will mean presenting the people with a fait accompli," the Russian foreign minister said.

According to Lavrov, a similar approach applies to Armenia's position on the CSTO, with Yerevan arguing that the organization no longer serves the country's interests because it "does not meet Armenia's security needs."

"If that is the case, they should withdraw. But if they want us to expel Armenia, we will not do that," Lavrov concluded.