Lieutenant General Lieutenant general (Lt Gen, LTG and similar) is a military rank used in many countries. The rank traces its origins to the Middle Ages, where the title of lieutenant general was held by the second-in-command on the battlefield, who was norma ...

Stanislav Vasilievich Zas (, ; born 1964) is a Belarusian general and politician who is a former Secretary-General of the

Collective Security Treaty Organization The Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO, ) is an Intergovernmental organization, intergovernmental military alliance in Eurasia consisting of six post-Soviet states: Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, and Tajikistan. Th ...

and was formerly the State Secretary of the

Security Council of Belarus The Security Council of the Republic of Belarus (Belarusian language, Belarusian: Савет бяспекі Рэспублікі Беларусь, Russian language, Russian: Совет безопасности Республики Беларус� ...

Early life

Zas was born in 1964 in

Chernihiv Chernihiv (, ; , ) is a city and municipality in northern Ukraine, which serves as the administrative center of Chernihiv Oblast and Chernihiv Raion within the oblast. Chernihiv's population is The city was designated as a Hero City of Ukraine ...

Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic The Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic, abbreviated as the Ukrainian SSR, UkrSSR, and also known as Soviet Ukraine or just Ukraine, was one of the Republics of the Soviet Union, constituent republics of the Soviet Union from 1922 until 1991. ...

. From 1982–1985, Zas was enrolled in the

Baku Higher Combined Arms Command School The Baku Higher Combined Arms Command School (BVOKU) was one of the military academies of the USSR. It trained military personnel in a number of specializations. It was located in Baku in the Azerbaijan SSR. History On November 29, 1939, the ...

in the capital of the

Azerbaijan SSR The Azerbaijan Soviet Socialist Republic, also referred to as the Azerbaijani Soviet Socialist Republic, Azerbaijan SSR, Azerbaijani SSR, AzSSR, Soviet Azerbaijan or simply Azerbaijan, was one of the constituent republics of the Soviet Union be ...

Career

After graduating from the Azerbaijani command school at the age of 21, he began his service in the

Soviet Army The Soviet Ground Forces () was the land warfare service branch of the Soviet Armed Forces from 1946 to 1992. It was preceded by the Red Army. After the Soviet Union ceased to exist in December 1991, the Ground Forces remained under th ...

, at one point acting as a commander of a motorized rifle platoon and reconnaissance platoon. For two years beginning in 1993, he was selected to study at the

Combined Arms Academy of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation The Combined Arms Academy of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation is a military academy in Moscow which provides graduate education for officers of the Russian Armed Forces. The full name reads: ''The Combined Academies Order of Lenin Order ...

, and completed his studies at age 32 in 1996 at the

Military Academy of Belarus Military Academy of the Republic of Belarus (, ) is higher military educational institution in the national education system of the Republic of Belarus and the leading institution in the education system of training, retraining and advanced traini ...

with honors and a gold medal. Zas quickly rose in the military hierarchy, serving in various positions such as head of the Main Operational Department of the

General Staff of the Armed Forces of Belarus The General Staff of the Armed Forces of the Republic of Belarus is the central body of military management and operational control of the Armed Forces of Belarus. The Chief of the General Staff is appointed by the President of Belarus, who is t ...

. Zas was promoted to Deputy State Secretary in August 2008. On 4 November 2015 he replaced Alexander Mezhuyev as State Secretary of the

, in accordance with a decree by President

Alexander Lukashenko Alexander Grigoryevich Lukashenko (also transliterated as Alyaksandr Ryhoravich Lukashenka; born 30 August 1954) is a Belarusian politician who has been the first and only president of Belarus since the office's establishment in 1994, making hi ...

dating back to July of that year.Зась Станислав Васильевич (18.08.1964)
/ref>

Secretary-General of CSTO

In December 2018

Lieutenant-General Lieutenant general (Lt Gen, LTG and similar) is a military rank used in many countries. The rank traces its origins to the Middle Ages, where the title of lieutenant general was held by the second-in-command on the battlefield, who was normall ...

Zas was made a candidate for the post of Secretary General of the

, succeeding

Colonel-General Colonel general is a military rank used in some armies. It is particularly associated with Germany, where historically general officer ranks were one grade lower than in the Commonwealth and the United States, and was a rank above full , but be ...

Yuri Khachaturov from

Armenia Armenia, officially the Republic of Armenia, is a landlocked country in the Armenian Highlands of West Asia. It is a part of the Caucasus region and is bordered by Turkey to the west, Georgia (country), Georgia to the north and Azerbaijan to ...

. In May 2019, the CSTO's Foreign Ministers nominated Zas to become Secretary General, with his official appointment being on 1 January 2020. It was under his watch that the CSTO deployed active duty troops for the first time in its 20-year history in January 2022, to quell an incipient rebellion in

Kazakhstan Kazakhstan, officially the Republic of Kazakhstan, is a landlocked country primarily in Central Asia, with a European Kazakhstan, small portion in Eastern Europe. It borders Russia to the Kazakhstan–Russia border, north and west, China to th ...

. This commitment of peacekeeping forces was mentioned by Zas in his Statement by the CSTO Secretary General to the

UN Security Council The United Nations Security Council (UNSC) is one of the six principal organs of the United Nations (UN) and is charged with ensuring international peace and security, recommending the admission of new UN members to the General Assembly, an ...

on 16 February. Zas reaffirmed the CSTO goal of "resolution of world problems by exclusively political and diplomatic means in accordance with the provisions and goals of the

UN Charter The Charter of the United Nations is the foundational treaty of the United Nations (UN). It establishes the purposes, governing structure, and overall framework of the United Nations System, UN system, including its United Nations System#Six ...

" as recently as 16 February in communication with the UN Security Council. On 17 February 2022 Zas held an interview, his first with the Western media, in the CSTO's Moscow headquarters. He offered that the CSTO might in theory deploy some of its forces to the

Donbas The Donbas (, ; ) or Donbass ( ) is a historical, cultural, and economic region in eastern Ukraine. The majority of the Donbas is occupied by Russia as a result of the Russo-Ukrainian War. The word ''Donbas'' is a portmanteau formed fr ...

and that the CSTO was able to marshal a significant force if necessary. "Hypothetically you can imagine it (such a deployment) if there were goodwill from Ukraine – it is after all their territory – if there was a UN Security Council mandate, and if it was needed and such a decision was supported by all our governments." Zas opined that the only way to resolve the

Russo-Ukrainian war The Russo-Ukrainian War began in February 2014 and is ongoing. Following Ukraine's Revolution of Dignity, Russia Russian occupation of Crimea, occupied and Annexation of Crimea by the Russian Federation, annexed Crimea from Ukraine. It then ...

was through negotiations.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Zas, Stanislav 1964 births Living people People from Chernihiv Oblast Belarusian generals