Armenian Side Sees No Issues with Belarus or Its Representative - Armenian Foreign Ministry

Yerevan does not see any issues regarding the candidate from Belarus for the position of Secretary General of the CSTO. This was stated by Armenia's Deputy Foreign Minister Shavarsh Kocharyan during a discussion on the ratification of the Second Protocol to amend the Collective Security Treaty of May 15, 1992, at the session of the Permanent Committee on Foreign Relations of the Parliament on September 5, while responding to questions from lawmakers.

According to the Deputy Minister, the Armenian side has no problems with either Belarus or its representative. “The question was different. During Armenia's presidency in the CSTO, a representative from another country cannot be appointed to this position. We have achieved that,” Kocharyan said.

It should be noted that the Council of Foreign Ministers of the CSTO member countries made a decision at one of its meetings to present the candidacy of Belarussian representative Stanislav Zas for the post of Secretary General of the organization starting from January 1, 2020.

It is also worth recalling that the position of Secretary General of the CSTO has been vacant since 2018, after Armenia recalled its representative Yuri Khachaturov prematurely. He and other Armenian political figures are accused by the current government of attempting to overthrow the constitutional order in connection with the events of March 1, 2008.