Government’s rating will not be affected if CSTO secretary general position is given to Belarus, political analyst says
11.02.2019,
16:30
Armenian government’s rating will not be affected if the position of secretary general of the Russia-led Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) is given to a representative of Belarus, according to a political analyst Karen Kocharyan.
YEREVAN, February 11. /ARKA/. Armenian government’s rating will not be affected if the position of secretary general of the Russia-led Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) is given to a representative of Belarus, according to a political analyst Karen Kocharyan.
Speaking at a news conference today Kocharyan said it is obvious that the rating of Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan’s government (his My Step bloc holds the majority of seats in the National Assembly) will drop.
“This is natural, because after coming to power all political forces begin to lose their rating. But with respect to Pashinyan’s administration, the drop will be prompted by the social discontent of voters, not by geopolitics, unless it is not the Nagorno-Karabakh issue” he said.
The turmoil in the Russia-led Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) was triggered by Armenia’s decision in early November 2018 to recall Yuri Khachaturov, a former chief of the General Staff of the Armenian Armed Forces, who had been serving as CSTO secretary general.
In Armenia Khachaturov is charged with involvement in the violent crackdown on the opposition in the aftermath of the disputed presidential election in 2008. Armenia insists that the position should be held by its representative until the end of Khachaturov’s term, which ends in mid 2019.
During a November 8, 2018 CSTO summit in Astana, Kazakhstan and Belarus insisted that the rotating position be handed to Belarus, which is next in the list of the countries to assume the position by alphabetical order.
Leaders of the CSTO were supposed to solve the secretary general question in St. Petersburg on December 6. But two days before the gathering a Russian presidential aide Yuri Ushakov said the meeting would be postponed into 2019 at Armenia’s request, which was holding snap elections on December 9.
However, Arman Yeghoyan, Pashinyan’s press secretary, denied Ushakov saying Armenia had not asked for a postponement. In his words, it was Russian President Vladimir Putin that had proposed it. -0-
Speaking at a news conference today Kocharyan said it is obvious that the rating of Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan’s government (his My Step bloc holds the majority of seats in the National Assembly) will drop.
“This is natural, because after coming to power all political forces begin to lose their rating. But with respect to Pashinyan’s administration, the drop will be prompted by the social discontent of voters, not by geopolitics, unless it is not the Nagorno-Karabakh issue” he said.
The turmoil in the Russia-led Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) was triggered by Armenia’s decision in early November 2018 to recall Yuri Khachaturov, a former chief of the General Staff of the Armenian Armed Forces, who had been serving as CSTO secretary general.
In Armenia Khachaturov is charged with involvement in the violent crackdown on the opposition in the aftermath of the disputed presidential election in 2008. Armenia insists that the position should be held by its representative until the end of Khachaturov’s term, which ends in mid 2019.
During a November 8, 2018 CSTO summit in Astana, Kazakhstan and Belarus insisted that the rotating position be handed to Belarus, which is next in the list of the countries to assume the position by alphabetical order.
Leaders of the CSTO were supposed to solve the secretary general question in St. Petersburg on December 6. But two days before the gathering a Russian presidential aide Yuri Ushakov said the meeting would be postponed into 2019 at Armenia’s request, which was holding snap elections on December 9.
However, Arman Yeghoyan, Pashinyan’s press secretary, denied Ushakov saying Armenia had not asked for a postponement. In his words, it was Russian President Vladimir Putin that had proposed it. -0-
