Representative of Kazakhstan Defense Ministry now heads CSTO Joint Headquarters

First deputy Defense Minister of Kazakhstan general-colonel Saken Zhassuzakov was appointed head of the Joint Headquarters of the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO), RIA Novosti reports citing the CSTO press-service. “First deputy of Defense Minister and chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff of Kazakhstan Defense Ministry general-colonel Saken Zhassuzakov was appointed head of the Joint Staff of the CSTO for the inter-session period,” the press-release states. “Major general Pyotr Tikhonovskiy, head of the General Staff of the Armed Forces and first deputy of Belarus Defence Minister was released from this position by the same decree,” the document states. Zhassuzakov will retain his positions in Kazakhstan Defense Ministry. He has been working as first deputy Defense Minister and chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff of Kazakhstan Defense Ministry since March 2010. From 1996 to 2010 he served as deputy head of Kazakhstan Armed Forces Headquarters, first deputy chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff of Kazakhstan Defense Ministry and Commander-in-Chief of Kazakhstan Ground Forces. The CSTO includes Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan. The 20th anniversary of signing the Collective Security Treaty and the 10th anniversary of creation of the CSTO was celebrated on May 15 this year.