OPINION: Let the World Know What a Worthless Ally Russia Is

After a successful NATO summit at which member states agreed to increase their defense spending, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov lashed out, claiming that the increased spending was “disastrous” and would cause the “collapse” of the NATO alliance.

In psychology, it’s called projection – it is in fact Russia’s “mini-NATO,” the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO), is on shaky ground. Last week, during the regular meeting of the CSTO Council of Foreign Ministers in Kyrgyzstan, Russia’s ally Armenia did not even show up as the Armenian foreign minister was busy meeting with a representative from the European Union in Yerevan.

Putin’s allies are waking up to the fact that Russia has neither the willingness nor ability to provide leadership or security in the region.

The Collective Security Treaty Organization is an intergovernmental organization consisting of Russia, Belarus, Armenia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, and Tajikistan. The treaty governing the organization calls for cooperation across various fields, including emergency response and fighting terrorism and drug trafficking. However, its most significant provision is a mutual-defense clause, similar to NATO’s Article Five, which declares that aggression against one state is aggression against all.

Armenia’s absence at this year’s meeting came as no surprise, given that Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan announced he would freeze membership in the organization in 2024 and has not attended meetings, paid membership dues, or cooperated in exercises since. Armenian Prime Minister Pashinyan has said that the CSTO no longer works for Armenia, pointing to the fact that Armenia received little to no support from Russia during its recent wars with Azerbaijan. The CSTO declined to get involved in the conflict, with Putin claiming that the mutual defense clause was not applicable in the case of Nagorno-Karabakh.

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Russia’s failure to assist Armenia comes as no surprise. Putin perceives the CSTO as a unilateral means to assert control over the post-Soviet region and promote the interests of the Kremlin, rather than an institution based on reciprocity.

Armenia is not the only member state with a dubious commitment to the alliance.

Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan also have their issues with the CSTO. Despite being nominal allies, border clashes erupted between the two states in September 2022, after which Kyrgyzstan cancelled a planned CSTO military exercise.

Should Armenia officially quit the alliance, as Pashinyan has promised it will, it would not be the first country to abandon the CSTO. Georgia and Azerbaijan left in 1999, when the founding treaty was first up for renewal, while Uzbekistan left the alliance in 2012, seeking a freer hand in cooperating with the United States.

The growing anti-CSTO sentiments provide an opportunity for NATO to expose Russia’s disloyalty. The Armenian example should be broadcast widely by NATO among Putin’s allies and supporters of nationalist, pro-Russian political parties in places like Moldova, Serbia, or Bosnia and Herzegovina. They should all be reminded just how worthless a promise from Moscow is. If Russia would not lift a finger to meet its obligations to a treaty ally right next door, these potential allies should have no illusions that Moscow would help them. The same point should be raised to pro-Russian countries in the Global South.

It is time for NATO to reveal the shallowness of the CSTO.

The views expressed in this opinion article are the author’s and not necessarily those of Kyiv Post.