Stanislav Zas

From 1982–1985, Zas was enrolled in the Baku Higher Combined Arms Command School in the capital of the Azerbaijan SSR. After graduating from this school, he began his service in the Soviet Army, at one point acting as a commander of a motorized rifle platoon and reconnaissance platoon. For two years beginning in 1993, he studied at the Combined Arms Academy of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation, and completed his studies in 1996 at the Military Academy of Belarus with honors and a gold medal. He 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.

On 4 November 2015 he replaced Alexander Mezhuyev as State Secretary of the Security Council of Belarus, in accordance with a decree by President Alexander Lukashenko dating back to July of that year. Prior to this appointment, Zas had long served as Deputy State Secretary since August 2008. In December 2018, he was made a candidate for the post of Secretary General of the Collective Security Treaty Organization, succeeding Colonel-General Yuri Khachaturov from Armenia.[1][2][3][4] In May 2019, the CSTO's Foreign Ministers nominated Zas to become Secretary General, with his official appointment being on 1 January 2020.[5]