Representative of Armenia has been appointed new Secretary-General of the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO).

The Armenia National Security Council Secretary Yuri Khachaturov has been appointed as Secretary-General of the Russia-led CSTO, Russian news agency Interfax reported on April 14. 

The decision was reportedly approved by heads of the CSTO member nations during an informal summit in the Kyrgyz capital of Bishkek on April 14.  

"The heads of the CSTO member nations at an informal meeting in Bishkek unanimously adopted a decision on the appointment of Yuri Khachaturov as Secretary General of the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO)," CSTO acting Secretary-general Valery Semerikov told reporters in Bishkek on Friday, according to Interfax.

Semerikov said Khachaturov will take up his duties on May 2.

Meanwhile, Russian news agency RIA Novosti says the presidents of the CSTO member nations discussed issues related to military-political and military-strategic situation in the CSTO area of responsibility.

They also adopted a number of directives on addressing challenges and threats to security, RIA Novosti reported.    

The regional security organization was initially formed in 1992 for a five-year period by the members of the CIS Collective Security Treaty (CST) -- Armenia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan, which were joined by Azerbaijan, Georgia, and Belarus the following year.  A 1994 treaty reaffirmed the desire of all participating states to abstain from the use or threat of force, and prevented signatories from joining any “other military alliances or other groups of states” directed against members states.  The CST was then extended for another five-year term in April 1999, and was signed by the presidents of Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, and Tajikistan.  In October 2002, the group was renamed as the CSTO.  Uzbekistan that suspended its membership in 1999 returned to the CSTO again in 2006 after it came under international criticism for its brutal crackdown of antigovernment demonstrations in the eastern city of Andijon in May 2005.  On June 28, 2012, Uzbekistan announced that it has suspended its membership of the CSTO, saying the organization ignores Uzbekistan and does not consider its views.  The CSTO is currently an observer organization at the United Nations General Assembly.