YEREVAN, November 22. /TASS/. Yerevan is not leaving the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO), Armenian National Assembly (parliament) President Alen Simonyan told reporters.

"Armenia has not made a decision to withdraw from the CSTO," he said, commenting on Armenian officials’ refusal to participate in CSTO events scheduled to be held in the Belarusian capital of Minsk on November 23.

Armenian Prime Nikol Pashinyan announced earlier that he would not take part in the CSTO summit in Minsk. The country’s foreign and defense ministers also refused to participate in CSTO events. Parliament speaker Alen Simonyan, in turn, said that he would not attend a session of the CSTO Parliamentary Assembly in December. Armenia has also recalled its ambassador to the CSTO and has not appointed a new head of its diplomatic mission.

When commenting on Armenian officials’ refusal to participate in CSTO events in Minsk, Russian Presidential Spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that Mosow expected Yerevan to continue working in the organization.