🎙 Remarks and answers to media questions by Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov at a joint news conference with Secretary General of the CSTO Taalatbek Masadykov (Moscow, November 10, 2026) Key points: • As #CSTO Chair in 2026, Russia has pursued a policy of steadily deepening integration across all areas to improve the Organisation’s effectiveness and enhance its international standing. We are grateful to our allies for their consistent support for all our initiatives throughout Russia’s chairmanship. • We were also compelled to discuss Armenia’s failure to fulfil its obligations under the CSTO Charter regarding annual contributions to our common Organisation’s budget. There can be no ambiguity here. • A draft decision on this matter will also be considered at tomorrow’s Session of the CSTO Collective Security Council. It provides for suspending Armenia’s right to nominate its citizens for quota-based positions in the Organisation’s bodies and withdrawing its voting rights until its arrears are paid in full. • At the proposal of the American mediators, the talks that began today in Abu Dhabi focus on discussing the parameters of a future security architecture for Ukraine, Russia and our entire region – European security, one might say. • Ursula von der Leyen said there should be no discussion of the parameters of a security architecture until a lasting truce is in place. The same old logic again: they must “buy time” for their “clients” – the Kiev regime – and use it to replenish Ukraine’s military losses. ❌ We will not agree to this. • As for European participation, they have flown to Abu Dhabi. Let them sit in their hotel. But we cannot and do not wish to prevent the Americans from talking to whoever they deem necessary, on the grounds that this will help the negotiations. We shall see what comes of it. • The idea of defining clear parameters for a future security architecture before moving on to settling the Russian-Ukrainian conflict itself is entirely reasonable. • We have seen the Kiev regime’s ploys time and again. ❌ We will not agree to another truce, ceasefire or whatever it may be called without understanding the next steps. • Europe’s plan is very simple, and they make no secret of it. As soon as a ceasefire is in place, they will deploy “stabilisation forces” to territory controlled by the Kiev regime. Through this concept, which we will, of course, prevent them from implementing, they seek to stabilise the current Nazi regime. • Regarding the situation surrounding Iran and US President Donald Trump’s statement that Washington is no longer considering military options, I hope that will indeed be the case. Russia and China have consistently stressed the need to return to a peaceful settlement through political and diplomatic means. • Unfortunately, external actors continue to play a destructive role, as was the case with the Islamabad Memorandum, signed by Iran’s Leader and President Donald Trump personally. Despite this, Israel refuses to comply with its first provision, which stipulates the need for non-interference in the internal affairs of the Lebanese Republic. • Prospects for a settlement in the Strait of Hormuz and, more broadly, around the entire Arabian Peninsula, as I would put it, will require consideration of the situation in the Bab el-Mandeb Strait. We need to understand how to accommodate the Houthis’ legitimate interests in the context of the Yemeni crisis. Read in full