ArmInfo.Armenia most likely will lose the post of Secretary General in the CSTO. This opinion is shared by the head of the Hay Dat central office and on political issues of the ARF Dashnaktsutyun Kiro Manoyan.
"Like our Minister of Defense, I consider that Armenia should maintain the post of Secretary General until the end of the term, but I'm not sure that other CSTO members share the position of the Armenian side," Manoyan said at a press conference in Yerevan on November 7, adding that this is primarily due to the behavior of Armenia itself, as the Organization believes that Yerevan showed disrespect for the CSTO when, without certain procedures and notifications, started a case against its Secretary General. "I believe that the rest of the CSTO members will speak out against preserving the post of secretary general for Armenia, and the Belarusian candidate will take it," he said.
Touching upon the possible membership in the organization of Azerbaijan, the Dashnaktsutyun member expressed conviction that as far as Armenia remains this structure, this will not happen. Moreover, he believes that Azerbaijan is more eager to "put up sticks" and try to harm Armenia in any way than to actually join the CSTO. At the same time, Manoyan believes that to some extent Russia will benefit from this situation, which, by helping to promote this issue, is trying to flirt with Azerbaijan.
To note, Kommersant, citing its sources, reported that the CSTO is discussing the appointment of Head of the Security Council of Belarus Stanislav Zas as Secretary General of the CSTO, but the leaders of the Alliance countries will make the final decision on November 8 in Astana. As one of the interviewees told Kommersant, a variant was initially discussed that suggested that Mr. Semerikov be appointed an acting officer for a year and a half - that is, for a period that Yuri Khachaturov did not finish. However, according to the source, it was decided to appoint a full-fledged head of the secretariat. At the same time, he says, it was decided to be guided by the principle of rotation. According to him, after Armenia, the secretary general should be appointed by Belarus, following the alphabet. To note, Khachaturov left this post on November 2 at the request of Armenia.
To recall, CSTO Secretary General Yuri Khachaturov is accused of overthrowing the constitutional order in the so-called "March 1, 2008 case." At that time he held the post of the head of the Yerevan garrison. By a court decision of July 28, he was arrested and then released on bail in the amount of 5 million drams. The second Armenian President Robert Kocharyan is alos accused within the same case, as well as the former head of the Ministry of Defense of Armenia Mikael Harutyunyan who is on the wanted list. On August 2, the Special Investigative Service stated that the measure of restraint chosen against Yuri Khachaturov is not an obstacle for him to leave Armenia for some time. At the same time, the SIS did not detail the permissible period of his absence. Official Yerevan proposed CSTO counterparts to consider the possibility of replacing the CSTO Secretary General from Armenia in connection with the criminal prosecution of Yuri Khachaturov. Currently, according to the spread information, Armenia should submit the candidacy of former Minister of Defense Vagharshak Harutyunyan for this post, but Yerevan has not yet commented on this information. Acting Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan will fly to Astana tomorrow to attend a meeting of the CSTO Council, at which the issue of the Secretary General will be discussed.