Putin and Nazarbayev consider situation related to CSTO Secretary General problematic

ArmInfo. Presidents of Russia  Vladimir Putin and Kazakhstan Nursultan Nazarbayev discussed the  issue related to the Secretary General of the CSTO.

According to the Kremlin's official website, Nazarbayev during a  meeting with Putin, who arrived in Kazakhstan to attend the Fifth  Caspian Summit, said in particular: "Our bilateral relations have  been developing in all areas. This year, we will have an  interregional meeting in Petropavlovsk, and a CIS meeting in  Dushanbe, as far as I remember. During all these meetings, you and I  meet separately to discuss our bilateral relations; this helps us  resolve all our issues.  Among the questions we have yet to discuss  is the issue of CSTO Secretary-General, which has become a problem  now. Our economic ties within the EEU and bilateral ties are on the  upswing, for which I am grateful to you and the Russian Government.   In turn, Putin, referring to broad relations within the CSTO, the  EEU, stated that they have a substantial agenda and a large  programme. ''There are several problematic issues, you have just  mentioned one of them regarding CSTO.  But as regards bilateral  relations, our mutual trade is growing, and major projects, which we  talk about and which we support, are developing, such as Baiterek and  other programmes, as well as our cooperation in the energy and  transport sectors. Overall, there are numerous interesting  initiatives'', Putin said.  To recall, CSTO Secretary General Yuri  Khachaturov is accused of overthrowing the constitutional order in  the so-called "March 1, 2008 case." At that time he held the post of  the head of the Yerevan garrison. By a court decision of July 28, he  was arrested and then released on bail in the amount of 5 million  drams.  Within the same case, the second Armenian President Robert  Kocharian has also been accues and now is under arrest for 2 months  and former head of the Defense Ministry of the Republic of Armenia  Mikael Harutyunyan, is on the wanted list.

On August 2, the Special Investigative Service stated that the  preventive measure chosen against Yuri Khachaturov is not an obstacle  for him to leave Armenia for some time. At the same time, the SIS did  not detail the permissible period of its absence.

Official Yerevan offered CSTO colleagues to consider the possibility  of replacing the candidacy of the CSTO Secretary General from Armenia  in connection with the criminal prosecution of Yuri Khachaturov.