Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan told parliament that his government will decide later when to leave the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO), a grouping that includes Russia, Belarus and the former Soviet Central Asian nations of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan.
Amid the widening rift with Russia, Armenia earlier froze its participation in the alliance, cancelled its involvement in joint military drills and snubbed CSTO summits.
On Wednesday, Pashinyan said for the first time that Armenia will leave CSTO altogether during a question-and-answer session in parliament, saying that the government will decide later when to make the final move. There was no immediate comment from Russian authorities.
Armenia’s ties with Russia, its long-time sponsor and ally, have grown increasingly strained after Azerbaijan waged a lightning military campaign in September to take the Karabakh region, ending three decades of ethnic Armenian separatist rule there.