Deputy Secretary-General of the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) Valery Semerikov started fulfilling the duties of the post-Soviet security bloc’s chief on Sunday, CSTO Press Service reports.

The term of CSTO Secretary-General Nikolai Bordyuzha expired on December 31, 2016.

Bordyuzha had been the CSTO Secretary-General since 2003. At the organization’s Moscow summit in December 2015, a decision was made to extend Bordyuzha’s term until January 1, 2017.

In late December, Bordyuzha said the issue on the new chief of the organization would be solved in April 2017 at the meeting of the CSTO Council.