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Head of the Center for European Studies Arthur Ghazinyan believes that the events taking place in CSTO are hardly related to Armenia, as Armenia has realized its contractual right to recall its representative and proposed to nominate a new CSTO Secretary General.

"Everything fits in the logic of this organization's charter and the contract.
However, what happened yesterday in Astana is already a testimony to the unhealthy atmosphere in the organization and the low level of mutual trust between the member states," he wrote on his Facebook page.
He notes that Belarusian President Lukashenko and Kazakh President Nazarbayev attempted to bargain over the appointment of the Armenia's representative, trying to tear away all they possibly could from Russia which is getting weaker every day due to the sanctions, because traditionally Russia has been defending Armenia's interests in the CSTO.

"But as it turned out, Putin was not ready to pay for leaving the position of the Secretary General to Armenia. I am confident that Pashinyan will utilize the liabilities assigned to the member states as stated in the CSTO Charter most effectively and will block any other appointments creating an unprecedented deep crisis in the CSTO history. The problem will certainly be resolved thanks to Putin's personal prestige, but Lukashenko-Nazarbayev duet should not be allowed to create a chaos in the CSTO," he said.