Armenia Wins: Belarus-Kazakhstan Conspiracy Fails

The newspaper "Hraparak" reports: "Finally, Ararat Mirzoyan had the opportunity to meet closely with the Chairman of the State Duma of Russia, Vyacheslav Volodin, and shake his hand," said our interlocutor. It is worth remembering that the Speaker of the National Assembly participated in a CSTO Council meeting in Bishkek, where constitutional amendments that had been discussed for a long time were to be approved.

Incidentally, just a few days before the Bishkek meeting, the CSTO Permanent Council had already approved these amendments in Moscow: "These relate to the mechanisms for the recall of the CSTO secretary. Whether that position remains with the same country in cases of objective recall, or if there is a rotation and it moves to the next country. The following approach exists: if two years have passed, then rotation occurs; if it is less, the respective country can propose another candidate. In any case, it should be said that Armenia has emerged from this phase as a winner." How so?

"We won in the sense that we preserved our quota's duration, and Belarus could not appoint its candidate, Zas. Remember, Belarus wanted to appoint Zas even on the 18th; in December, Lukashenko announced that their candidate would be the leader of the CSTO. We showed Belarus that things did not go as they wished, and the Belarus-Kazakhstan 'coup' did not take place, which aligned with Azerbaijan's interests," he added.

As for what these steps have led to, the CSTO structure has been considerably discredited. By the way, how would you assess the relations between Pashinyan and Russia? "There are issues, but there are also positive trends. Moreover, the problems are more with his entourage than with Pashinyan himself."

For further details, see today’s newspaper.