Deputy Foreign Minister of Russia: The unresolved issue of the post  of CSTO Secretary General is painful for the organization

Արմինֆո.The unresolved issue of the post of the CSTO Secretary General is painful for the organization, but this does not affect the effectiveness and 
efficiency of the structure, said Alexander Pankin, deputy Head of 
the Russian Foreign Ministry, in an interview with RIA Novosti.

"The fact that we are not able to appoint a leader quickly after the 
previous representative of Armenia was recalled is probably painful 
for the Organization," said Pankin. In his opinion, "the situation 
should have been resolved as quickly as possible."

According to him, statutory documents imply that the Secretary 
General is appointed from January 1 of a year for three years. "Well, 
we will see how the situation will develop further. We would not draw 
any far- reaching conclusions from this situation: that one of the 
CSTO members has tensions with other members of the organization and 
there is no understanding," the diplomat said.  "This concerns a 
single issue, but it does not affect either the performance, or the 
overall effectiveness of the organization, or the combat capability. 
Talking about the fact that this issue can lead to something negative 
is superfluous," added Pankin. According to him, Russia proceeds from 
the fact that the CSTO is a very important tool for maintaining peace 
and regional security, "therefore, the organization must function 
clearly."

The CSTO includes Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia 
and Tajikistan. The position of the CSTO Secretary General became 
vacant after the representative of Armenia Yuri Khachaturov was 
released from it in 2018 due to criminal prosecution in his homeland. 
His deputy, Valery Semerikov, became the acting Secretary General of 
the CSTO. Armenia insists that the leadership position should remain 
with the representative of Yerevan until 2020. Meanwhile, as 
President of Kazakhstan Nursultan Nazarbayev said earlier at the 
summit in Astana on November 8, it was decided that now the post of 
the CSTO Secretary General should be taken by the representative of 
Belarus. On December 21, President of Belarus Alexander Lukashenko 
held a working meeting with the country's State Security Secretary 
Stanislav Zas and signed a draft decision of the CSTO Collective 
Security Council to appoint him as the general secretary of the 
organization. Earlier, Zas had already visited Kyrgyzstan, 
Kazakhstan, Tajikistan and Russia to coordinate his appointment. At 
the same time, Yerevan was informed that Zas's visit to Armenia is 
not planned. Zas himself noted that he was ready at any time 
convenient for the Armenian prime minister to arrive in Armenia, to 
meet with the head of government, the minister of foreign affairs and 
the minister of defense.  He expressed hope for a consensus on his 
appointment.