Incoming CSTO Head Visits Armenia

A senior Belarusian official met with Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian in Yerevan on Tuesday one week after Armenia dropped its objections to his appointment as secretary general of the Russian-led Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO).

The CSTO’s previous, Armenian secretary general, Yuri Khachaturov, was sacked in November after being charged by Armenian authorities over a 2008 crackdown on opposition protesters in Yerevan. Khachaturov’s three-year tenure was due to end in 2020.

Pashinian’s government demanded late last year that another Armenian official be named to run the organization until that time. The demand was rejected by other CSTO member states and Belarus in particular.

Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko nominated the secretary of his Security Council, Stanislav Zas, for the vacant post. Zas’s candidacy was backed by Russia and all other members of the defense alliance except Armenia.

Meeting in Bishkek on May 23, Armenian Foreign Minister Zohrab Mnatsakanian and his counterparts from Russia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan agreed that Zas will take over as CSTO secretary general on January 1, 2020. The appointment will almost certainly be formalized at a CSTO summit due in November.

Pashinian expressed his satisfaction with the agreement when he met with Zas. “The CSTO is one of the most important elements of Armenia’s security system, and Armenia is interested in the effective work of that organization,” he said.

The Belarusian official also met with Mnatsakanian on Monday. According to the Armenian Foreign Ministry, he assured Mnatsakanian he “will consistently act from the position of protecting security interests of all CSTO member states.”

The dispute over who should run the CSTO seriously strained Armenia’s relations with Belarus. In November, Pashinian condemned Lukashenko for publicly questioning Yerevan’s role in the CSTO while meeting with a senior diplomat from Azerbaijan.

Lukashenko claimed afterwards to have apologized to Pashinian. Still, he insisted that Yerevan should agree to the appointment of a Belarusian secretary general.

“The problem was created by [Pashinian,] not us,” the Belarusian strongman said, adding that the Armenian prime minister should have consulted with fellow CSTO leaders before bringing criminal charges against Khachaturov for “political reasons.”