YEREVAN. – Armenian Foreign Minister Zohrab Mnatsakanyan on Monday received State Secretary of the Security Council of Belarus, Stanislav Zas. Armenian News-NEWS.am has learned this from the news service of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) of Armenia.

According to a decision made during the CSTO Foreign Ministers’ meeting held in Bishkek, Zas has been nominated as CSTO Secretary General, from January 1, 2020 to December 31 2022.

Mnatsakanyan stressed the important role of CSTO in the security system of Armenia, and highlighted the importance of continuously increasing the effectiveness of this organization’s activities through close cooperation among member states

The Armenian FM added that, within the scope of his powers, the Secretary General of the CSTO should be guided by the basic documents of this organization, with the shared interests and political line of all member states and institutions, and should direct the normal functioning of the CSTO Secretariat.

CSTO Secretary General nominee Zas, for his part, thanked for submitting his candidacy to the meeting of the Collective Security Council of this organization, and assured that if appointed CSTO Secretary General, he will consistently protect the security interests of all CSTO member states.

The position of CSTO Secretary General became vacant when Armenia’s representative Yuri Khachaturov was recalled from this post on November 2, 2018 and on the initiative of the Armenian side. Khachaturov was charged under the Armenian Criminal Code, and along the lines of the criminal case into the tragic events that occurred in capital city Yerevan in March 2008.

On March 1 and 2, 2008 the then authorities of Armenia used force against the opposition members who were rallying in downtown Yerevan, and against the results of the presidential election on February 19, 2008. Eight demonstrators as well as two servicemen of the internal troops were killed in the clashes.