ArmInfo. Upcoming months will not be easy for CSTO, and the Karabakh issue will be one of the reasons, American analytical center of Stratfor forecasts. "The CSTO summit held on December 26 showed all the depth of disagreement between member countries, which still restricts the efficiency of this military alliance.
Particularly, it is the second time CSTO cannot appoint a person to replace Secretary General Nikolay Bordjuzha, which term has expired. And, despite there is a time left to the next CSTO summit to be held in April, the prospective to reach consensus in respect to this or any other issues are very suspicious for the alliance," the center experts state.
The article also reads that CSTO did not turn a powerful tool, and the latest events showed the resources of CSTO being restricted and limited. Particularly, the absence of Nursultan Nazarbaev, the President of Kazakhstan, at the December summit was not occasional.
The article reads also that Kazakhstan and Belarus keep closest relations with Baku, and it is obvious that they are not ready to accept Armenian candidate of Moscow as CSTO new secretary. CSTO has never been a really joint alliance, and the discussions due to the candidacy of next Secretary General could complicate the situation much more, up to the appointment of Russian candidate. Starting with January 1, 2017 the CSTO Secretary General responsibilities will be performed by Valeri Semerikov, the Deputy Secretary General, "due to expiration of Nikolay Bordjuzha's responsibility term on December 31, 2016." According to the Statutes of the Organization, the post of the CSTO Secretary General should be occupied by Armenian representative. But in October and December 2016 the issue has been excluded from Agena due to the absence of Kazakhstan President and Belarusian President.