There were rather heated debates during the CSTO meeting in Astana, Hraparak daily writes.

According to newspaper’s source, the presidents decided not to provide details to the media, saying that the issue of a new secretary general is postponed to December 6. However, Kazakhstan’s president Nurslutan Nazarbayev broke an agreement and said they are supporting the candidate of Belarus, as Armenia’s newly elected secretary will have one year only and will not even manage to visit all countries.

“Kazakhstan, which is obviously lobbying the interests of Azerbaijan, does not want to see Russia’s candidate in this post,” a source told the daily. “The possible scenarios are the following: Belarus and Kazakhstan stick to their position, Armenia makes a concession, which is unlikely. Belarus and Kazakhstan make a concession, hardly possible as well. Most likely there will be an interim secretary general”.

Asked whether Armenia may agree to Azerbaijan’s presence as a CSTO observer and Armenia’s secretary general will serve for a year, the source said “Armenia has to at least demand that Azerbaijan would not unleash a war, and Armenia would get new military equipment”.

“Do not forget that the decisions are made through consensus, and if Armenia opposes Azerbaijan’s presence he will never become an observer,” he added.