The Russia-led Collective Security Treaty Organization, or CSTO, agreed to strip Armenia of its voting rights and ability to nominate representatives to positions in the security bloc, Russian state news agency TASS reported on Nov. 11. Russian officials, including Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov, said the decision was made due to Armenia's repeated nonpayment of dues, though they said expulsion was not currently under consideration, noting that Armenia retains the right to activate the bloc's security protections if desired.