There is a need to discuss the aspects of the military and political cooperation with Belarus at the upcoming Eurasian Economic Union summit in St. Petersburg, Nicol Pashinyan said.
On December 5, in the run-up to the early elections to the National Assembly of Armenia,the acting Prime Minister handed out campaign leaflets to passengers at metro stations and answered reporters’ questions.
According to Pashinyan, he will raise the issue of electing Secretary General of the Collective Security Treaty Organization when he meets with Alyaksandr Lukashenka at the Supreme Eurasian Economic Council session. But in fact, Belarus-Armenia relations are facing more serious challenges.
“I have repeatedly said the CSTO Secretary General position is not issue number one. But in this context, the most important problems are being discussed, i.e. the effectiveness of the organization [CSTO], the mutual obligations of its members towards the CSTO , and vice versa,” Blognews.am quotes Pashinyan.
This year, Belarus sold its newest Polonez rocket system to Azerbaijan, which has drawn great disfavour from Armenia, Azerbaijan’s rival in the conflict in Nagorno-Karabakh. It should be noted that both Belarus and Armenia are allies and members of the CSTO.
Yerevan also criticizes Minsk for the breach of etiquette: Alyaksandr Lukashenka told Ilham Aliyev on would-be electing a new Secretary General of the CSTO and gave details the closed doors talks. Moreover, he has recently shared his doubts about Armenia’s ability to live up to the current tasks with the ambassador of Azerbaijan to Belarus.
11 June 2018. Belarusian Polonezes shown to Ilham Aliyev. Phot. president.az
Then there was a discussion of candidates for the post of Secretary General instead of Armenian official Yuri Khachaturov. As a result of the negotiations, Russian citizen Valery Semerikov temporarily acts as Secretary General. The question was firstly deferred to December 6, and then for an indefinite period. Armenia’s leadership believes that Mr Khachaturov should be replaced by another Armenian citizen.
