Due to Armenia's non-payment of its membership fees, the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) will consider applying the article of the organization's charter that refers to member states that fail to fulfill their obligations, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said.

"What to do in this situation? We discussed this issue today. Armenia has been in debt to the CSTO budget for more than two years now, and such situations are provided for by the Charter of the Collective Security Treaty Organization. Today we agreed to consider the possibility of applying the relevant article of the CSTO Charter," Lavrov told reporters Wednesday.

According to Article 20 of the CSTO Charter, if a member state fails to pay its debts to the organization's budget for two years, the CSTO Collective Security Council suspends the right of that country's citizens to nominate for quota positions, as well as deprives it of its voting rights until the debt is fully repaid.

In addition, according to Article 20 of the Charter, if a CSTO member state fails to comply with the provisions of the Charter, decisions of the Council or other bodies of the organization, the CSTO Collective Security Council may suspend that country's participation in the organization's work or expel it from the organization. In this case, decisions regarding that country are made without taking its vote into account.