Defense minister rules out appointment of new CSTO chief without Armenia’s consent
Appointment of a new secretary general of the Russia-led Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) without Armenia’s consent is excluded, Armenian Defemse Minister Davit Tonoyan told reporters at the Yerablur Military Pantheon on Tuesday.
His comments came after Stanislav Zas, the Belarussian candidate for the post, said the CSTO Charter allows to deal with the issue with a limited staff.
Tonoyan stressed the issue concerns the appointment of a secretary general; it is not a tactical or operative-tactical decision.
“This is an issue of appointing a secretary general for a strategic alliance. How is it possible to elect or appoint a secretary general without any member of the alliance? The Charter doesn’t allow such a thing,” he stressed.
Tonoyan said the Foreign Ministry and the CSTO Secretariat are taking respective measures in the organization to settle the issue.
Formed in 1992, the CSTO groups six former Soviet republics of Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia and Tajikistan.
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