Armenia should officially initiate recall of its citizen from CSTO secretary general office - Russian Foreign Ministry
MOSCOW. July 28 (Interfax) - Yerevan should officially recall its representative from the office of the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) secretary general if it made this decision, the Russian Foreign Ministry said.
"In keeping with the CSTO rules of procedure, it is precisely the Armenian side that should officially initiate the recall of its citizen from the office of CSTO secretary general, if Yerevan decided to recall him," the Russian Foreign Ministry said in a commentary on Saturday.
The Russian foreign minister explained some aspects of the matter to his Armenian counterpart in a telephone conversation between the two, it said.
Earlier on Saturday, Armenian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Tigran Balayan said to Interfax Armenia had proposed that the CSTO member states start the process of the replacement of the organization's secretary general.
A first-instance court in Yerevan ruled late on Friday to grant bail to Khachaturov, charged with violating the constitutional order in 2008, and freed him from pretrial detention.
"This is a strictly internal legal process," Balayan said. "However, considering that the matter concerns the sitting CSTO secretary general and attaching great importance to the organization's credibility and uninterrupted operations, Armenia has proposed that its CSTO partners start the process of replacing the secretary general," Balayan said.
The Armenian Special Investigation Service earlier indicted Khachaturov in a case dealing with the dispersal of a demonstration on March 1, 2008. Khachaturov served as chief of the Yerevan garrison of the Armenian Armed Forces at the time.