Belarus President Alexander Lukashenko has expressed concern over the “unhealthy situation” at the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO), including with respect to the appointment of the next secretary general of this organization.

Lukashenko made the respective statement at Tuesday’s session to discuss integration projects and cooperation with European organizations.

“In view of the global developments, the importance of this organization [the CSTO] is of no doubt,” the Belarusian president said, BelTA reported. “But now the organization is caught in some unhealthy situation. Take, for example, the routine issue of appointment of the secretary general.”

He added that politico-military cooperation within the framework of the CSTO was important to Belarus.

“Today this is the most important area where we should focus our efforts because of the politico-military trends in the world,” Lukashenko said.

State Secretary of the Security Council of Belarus, Stanislav Zas, has been proposed as candidate for the post of next CSTO Secretary General. The Belarusian candidature is approved by Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan, and Russia. But difficulties in the matter remain with Armenia, which withdrew its representative Yuri Khatchaturov from this post ahead of time and insists on appointing its own candidate to this post until 2020, when the country’s term in this office formally comes to an end.