MOSCOW, June 13. /TASS/. The CSTO believes that Armenia remains a full member of the group, even after the country’s prime minister, Nikol Pashinyan, signaled it could withdraw, the CSTO Secretariat told TASS.

"We act on the assumption that, despite the noticeable downsizing of the Republic of Armenia's participation in CSTO events, it remains a full member of the organization," a representative of the CSTO Secretariat said, when asked to comment on Pashinyan's statement.

The group also highlighted the explanations by Armenian Foreign Minister Ararat Mirzoyan, who said Pashinyan did not mean that Armenia was leaving the CSTO.

On Thursday, the Armenian prime minister said that the next logical step in relations with the CSTO would be withdrawal from the organization. He also pledged that neither he nor other Armenian officials will visit Belarus as long as Alexander Lukashenko remains president there. As an explanation, Pashinyan said that "one of the CSTO leaders stated that he participated in the preparation of the 44-day war (the conflict in Nagorno-Karabakh in 2020 - TASS), encouraged, believed in, wished victory to Azerbaijan."

Russian Presidential Spokesman Dmitry Peskov commented on these statements by saying that Russia and Armenia will continue to treat each other as allies and partners.