Putin sacks CSTO permanent representative Agasandyan

Russian President Vladimir Putin has appointed Viktor Vasilyev, Ambassador for Special Assignments of the Foreign Ministry, as the permanent representative to the Collective Security Treaty Organisation (CSTO).

"To appoint Ambassador-at-Large of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation Viktor Lvovich Vasilyev as permanent and plenipotentiary representative of the Russian Federation to the Collective Security Treaty Organisation," TASS reports, citing the decree of the Russian leader.

Vasilyev had already served as ambassador to the CSTO in 2013 and was a post-ambassador to the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation.

By another decree, the president dismissed Mikael Agasandyan from his post as permanent representative to the CSTO. Agasandyan is the director of the First Department of the CIS countries of the Russian Foreign Ministry.