Armenia Renounces Its Quota of Deputy Secretary General in CSTO

YEREVAN — Armenia has submitted a proposal to the CSTO on relinquishing its quota of Deputy Secretary-General of the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO), the Armenian Foreign Ministry confirmed Friday.

“Indeed, we’ve presented a respective proposal to the CSTO,” foreign ministry spokesperson Vahan Hunanyan told Armenpress when asked to either confirm or deny media reports claiming that Armenia has formally renounced its quota of Deputy Secretary-General.

Currently, the CSTO Secretary General has three deputies: Valery Semerikov (Russian Federation), Samat Ordabaev (Kazakhstan), Takhir Khairuloev (Tajikistan). The Secretary General is appointed for a three-year term, from January 1, 2023 to December 31, 2025, this post is held by Imangali Tasmagambetov.

Appointment to positions according to the quota is carried out by the Secretary General on a rotational basis every three years on the proposal of the CSTO member states. The number of such posts in the secretariat is assigned to countries in proportion to their contributions to the budget.

The development comes two months after Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan called off a CSTO military exercise that was scheduled to take place in Armenia this year. He again accused the alliance of refusing to defend Armenia against Azerbaijani military attacks in breach of its statutes.

Late last year, Armenia also turned down other CSTO member states’ offer to deploy monitors along its volatile border with Azerbaijan, citing their reluctance to acknowledge and condemn the Azerbaijani aggression.

Yerevan appealed to the CSTO for support during the September 2022 border clashes which left at least 224 Armenian soldiers dead. Armenian leaders afterwards accused the alliance of ignoring the appeal in breach of its statutes.