Acting Foreign Minister Zohrab Mnatsakanyan has said in an interview with TASS that Armenia should retain the post of Secretary General of the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO).

According to him, the country has good human resources.

The CSTO Collective Security Council relieved Armenia’s Yuri Khachaturov of his duties as the organization’s secretary general in late October.

On July 26, Armenia’s Special Investigative Service accused Khachaturov of overthrowing the constitutional order in 2008 and requested his arrest. Khachaturov, who was the Commander of the Armenian Armed Forces’ Yerevan Garrison back in 2008, pleaded not guilty. On July 28, the Yerevan City Court of General Jurisdiction released him on his own recognizance and a bail of about $10,000.

Mnatsakanyan said the organization’s regulatory framework does not provide for any specific solutions to resolve issues related to the impossibility of implementing the duties of the CSTO Secretary General.

The acting Foreign Minister added that decisions within the CSTO are reached by consensus, and that the authority, viability and efficiency of the organization are of utmost importance for Armenia.

“As a CSTO member, we are interested in having a strong organization and contribute to this matter,” he said.

Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev said at a session of the Collective Security Council of the Collective Security Treaty Organization on November 7 that Minsk should appoint the next Secretary General of the organization.

Nazarbayev told reporters after the session that all the heads of CSTO member states have said that a representative of Belarus should be the Secretary General.