The situation around Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) Secretary General Yuri Khachaturov also was discussed during the last meeting of Russian and Belarusian presidents in Sochi, Russia.

Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko on Sunday said the aforementioned in an interview aired on Belarus 1 television.

“We reflected on CSTO matters and Khachaturov’s detention in Armenia,” Lukashenko said. “Our [respective] position is clear and comprehensible. We proposed other candidates at the time; [but] they didn’t listen to us at the time.

He informed that the presidents of Belarus and Russia “looked deeper into this matter, from the viewpoint of Armenia’s new leadership; the policy which RA [Republic of Armenia] Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan runs.”

“We have discussed our joint actions within the CSTO and the existing problems in the CSTO, the directions of actions for which the members of the Collective Security Treaty Organization are accountable,” said the Belarusian president.

Incumbent CSTO Secretary General and Armenia’s former Deputy Defense Minister Yuri Khachaturov has been charged within the framework of the criminal case into the tragic events that transpired in capital city Yerevan on March 1 and 2, 2008—and under Article 300.1 Paragraph 1 of the Criminal Code; that is, breaching Armenia’s constitutional order, in conspiracy with others. On July 27, however, Khachaturov was released on bail, and he returned to his duties as CSTO Secretary General.

On March 1 and 2, 2008, the then authorities used force against the opposition members who were rallying in downtown Yerevan, and against the results of the recent presidential election. Eight demonstrators as well as two servicemen of the internal troops were killed in the clashes. But no one had been brought to account for these deaths, to this day.Top of Form