YEREVAN. – Informing about his telephonic conversation with Russian President Vladimir Putin regarding the election of the next Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) Secretary General, Armenia’s Acting Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan said they had agreed that a CSTO session will not take place until 2019, and that the matter will be resolved in a working order, Hraparak (Square) newspaper reported. 

‘“What does that mean?’ we asked an [Armenian] MFA source. ‘That is, you can resolve the matter in the period between the CSTO sessions, and the sessions take place once every half a year. Many matters are resolved with that order.’

‘“Will the new CSTO secretary be elected through working discussions?’ ‘It’s hard to say. [But] one thing is clear: this situation [negatively] affects the image of the CSTO, [and] which doesn’t stem from Russia’s interests. And it seems Putin has taken upon his ‘hand’ the resolving of the matter; his call to Pashinyan proves that,’” Hraparak wrote.

In November, Armenian authorities recalled the country’s representative Yuri Khachaturov from the office of CSTO Secretary General.

Khachaturov has been charged in Armenia within the framework of the criminal case into the tragic events that transpired in capital city Yerevan on March 1 and 2, 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 then 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.