ArmInfo. The issue of recalling CSTO Secretary General Yuri Khachaturov should be considered in a wider context, given the likelihood of similar problems recurring in the future, Armenian Foreign Minister Zohrab Mnatsakanyan told reporters on October 18.
According to him, consultations on the issue of changing the CSTO Secretary General Yuri Khachaturov are continuing. "We need to consider this issue in a wider context, since such situations, for various reasons, can be repeated in the future, and the Charter of the Organization should be ready to regulate such problems," said Mnatsakanyan.
Answering the question of how correctly from a diplomatic point of view it was to initiate a criminal case against the CSTO Secretary General, Mnatsakanyan said that the issue with Khachaturov is strictly domestic political one. "Armenia, for its part, has done everything so that the internal political process does not influence the organization and the authority of the CSTO is as important for us as it is for other member countries," he 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. The second Armenian President Robert Kocharyan is alos accused within the same case, as well as the former head of the Ministry of Defense of Armenia Mikael Harutyunyan who is on the wanted list. On August 2, the Special Investigative Service stated that the measure of restraint 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 his absence.
Official Yerevan proposed CSTO counterparts to consider the possibility of replacing the CSTO Secretary General from Armenia in connection with the criminal prosecution of Yuri Khachaturov.