CSTO Security Council Committee to Meet in Moscow on May 26

The Russian Security Council Office announced on May 6, 2026, that the Collective Security Treaty Organization’s Committee of Secretaries of Security Councils will meet on May 26, 2026. Russia will host the meeting in Moscow. Representatives from Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Russia will attend alongside CSTO Secretary General Talatbek Masadykov to discuss defense and political matters and examine ways to improve collective security.

Russia assumed the CSTO chairmanship in January 2026. Russian President Vladimir Putin serves as Chairman of the Collective Security Council of the CSTO. The organization held a series of sessions in January 2026 where participants discussed activities connected with the commencement of the Russian Federation’s chairmanship of the CSTO.

The upcoming Moscow meeting arrives as Armenia, a founding CSTO member, continues to distance itself from the alliance. Armenia froze its membership in the CSTO in February 2024. In 2020 and 2023, Azerbaijan launched attacks against Armenia in Karabakh, after which Armenia requested assistance from Russia and the CSTO, but neither intervened militarily.

Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan accused the CSTO of failing to fulfill its obligations to Armenia. Pashinyan stated that Armenia is not an ally of Russia on the issue of Ukraine. He also announced he would not attend Russia’s Victory Day parade in Moscow on May 9, 2026.

Earlier in May 2026, Armenia hosted a summit with representatives from the European Union in Yerevan. Armenia signed a connectivity partnership with the EU during the summit. The EU and Armenia issued a joint statement noting Armenia’s commitment to sustainable democracy, the establishment of the EU Partnership Mission in Armenia, and the creation of the EU-Armenia High-Level Dialogue on Connectivity.