Central Asia General Newswire
August 2, 2018 Thursday 2:52 PM MSK
New Armenian candidate for CSTO sec gen won't be approved automatically – newspaper
MOSCOW. Aug 2
The possible replacement of incumbent Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) Secretary General Yury Khachaturov, who is currently under investigation, by another representative of Armenia will not be automatic, the newspaper Kommersant said on Thursday.
"Sources in Russia's government agencies are already hinting that in the present situation the approval of a new candidate from Armenia will not be automatic," it said.
"The domestic Armenian tussling is causing enormous harm to the image of the entire organization [CSTO]. It is strange that they themselves fail to realize that," a source close to the Russian presidential administration told Kommersant.
According to the newspaper, a possible decision on replacing Khachaturov will be adopted no earlier than November 8, when the CSTO's supreme body, the Collective Security Council, which includes Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, and Tajikistan, is expected to meet.
"If a new Armenian candidate for the post of secretary general is not approved, Belarus in alphabetical order will receive the right to nominate the next candidate," the newspaper said.
Khachaturov was elected the CSTO's secretary general for three years in May 2017.
The Armenian Special Investigation Service on July 27 indicted Khachaturov in a case dealing with the dispersal of a demonstration on March 1, 2008. Khachaturov served as chief of the Yerevan garrison of the Armenian Armed Forces at the time.
A Yerevan court ruled to arrest Khachaturov, but then agreed to free him on bail.
Armenian Foreign Ministry spokesman Tigran Balayan said on July 28 that Armenia had proposed that the CSTO member states start the process of the replacement of its secretary general.
