CSTO turns away from Armenia
By Abdul Kerimkhanov
CSTO allies one after another cut off Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan’s path for retreat. Pashinyan himself, as a political figure, did everything to make relationship between CSTO and Armenia today so tense and critical. He could not convince the CSTO members to approve his candidacy into the organization.
The Russian president's position on the apointment of CSTO secretary general is yet unknown. Putin is silent, and the Armenian side still has hope that his opinion will be in favor of Yerevan.
In turn, the candidacy of the Belarus representative Stanislav Zas for the post of secretary general was supported by Kyrgyzstan. This was announced by the President of Kyrgyzstan Sooronbay Jeenbekov at a press conference on December 19.
“This year the chairmanship in the CSTO passed to Kyrgyzstan, I have received the Secretary of the Belarus Security Council, we talked and I signed the decision,” Zheenbekov said, adding that leaving organization like the CSTO without secretary general is impossible.
President of Tajikistan Emomali Rahmon held a meeting with State Secretary of the Security Council of Belarus, Stanislav Zas on December 14. He also expressed readiness to support the candidacy of the representative of Belarus for the post of the CSTO Secretary General.
“You are a military man and have the appropriate education. We worked in the General Staff, the Security Council of Belarus. You are familiar with the work of the CSTO, participated in various meetings and conferences. We will support you,” said Rahmon during a meeting with the State Secretary of the Security Council of Belarus.
Earlier, President of Kazakhstan Nursultan Nazarbayev expressed his support Stanislav Zas in a meeting with him in Astana.
Stanislav Zas was born in 1964 in Ukraine. He graduated with honors from the Baku Higher All-Arms Command School in 1985. In accordance with the Decree of Belarusian President, he served as State Secretary of the Security Council from July 1, 2015. He was appointed State Secretary of the Security Council in November 2015.
The post of the CSTO Secretary General remained vacant after Armenia withdrew its representative Yuri Khachaturov. A criminal case was initiated against him in Yerevan. Khachaturov is accused of overthrowing the constitutional order during the post-election events of March 1, 2008.
Valery Semerikov from Russia is currently the Acting Secretary General.
Armenia insists on maintaining this position until 2020. However, the CSTO stated that due to the political situation in the country, it would be inappropriate to give up the post again to Armenia.
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Abdul Kerimkhanov is AzerNews’ staff journalist, follow him on Twitter: @AbdulKerim94
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