Armenia risks losing Russia and other members of the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) as its most reliable allies because of Yerevan's current policy towards the bloc, Russian Federation Council member Vladimir Dzhabarov has warned.

Axar.az reports, citing Russian media, that Dzhabarov said the Armenian authorities were delaying a decision on the country's future foreign policy direction, particularly whether to move closer to the European Union or continue cooperation within the Eurasian Economic Union.

“I think Armenia's current leaders are playing with fire, as their actions could lead to the loss of their most loyal and reliable natural allies in the form of Russia and other CSTO countries,” he said.

Commenting on Armenia's loss of voting rights in the organization, Dzhabarov said the decision by other member states was justified and did not violate the CSTO Charter.

“Armenia demonstrably does not participate in any events and does not pay its contributions. They constantly say that they consider themselves to have already left the CSTO, although no official statement of withdrawal has been submitted,” the senator said.

On Wednesday, CSTO member states applied Article 25 of the organization's Charter to Armenia, resulting in the suspension of its voting rights.