The 23rd meeting of the Military Committee on military cooperation development among the CSTO member states under the supervision of the Chairman of the Military Committee, Chief of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation - First Deputy Minister of Defense of the Russian Federation, Army General Valery Gerasimov, took place today via videoconferencing.
From April 8 to 11, 2024, the XXI International Seminar-Meeting on Combined Martial Arts with the heads of combat and physical training of the security ministries and agencies of the CSTO member states took place at the Park Hotel "Horizon", Odintsovo District, Moscow Region.
The event was addressed by Gennady Troislit, the Deputy Head of the Organizational and Planning Department of the CSTO Secretariat, and Oleg Ufimtsev, the President of the Russian Federation of Combined Martial Arts.
An international conference "On the Role and Character of Interaction of International and Regional Organizations in the Fight against International Terrorism" was held in Moscow, organized by the CSTO Secretariat with the participation of the OSCE
30.10.2019
On October 30, 2019, Moscow hosted the International Conference “On the Role and Character of Interaction of International and Regional Organizations in the Fight against International Terrorism”, organized by the Secretariat of the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO).
The conference was attended by representatives of the leadership of the UN Counter-Terrorism Security Office and other relevant structural units of the UN, OSCE, International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), International Organization for Migration (IOM), Interpol, the Eurasian Group on Countering the Legalization of Criminal proceeds and Financing of Terrorism (EAG), Executive Committee of the CIS, the Antiterrorist Center of the CIS member states, the Secretariat and the SCO Regional Anti-Terrorist Structure, Conference on Interaction and Confidence-building Measures in Asia. The forum was also attended by representatives of the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation, the Secretariat of the CSTO Parliamentary Assembly, and the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
The main theme of the conference was the discussion of the implementation of the UN Global Counter-Terrorism Strategy, the development of international cooperation in the global security system, and the improvement of mechanisms to counter the challenges of international terrorism and related extremism.
Addressing the forum participants, the CSTO Acting Secretary General Valery Semerikov said that the main lesson that teaches all the accumulated experience in countering international terrorism is the need to intensify collective efforts in the fight against terrorism without double standards and various exceptions based on the strict implementation of anti-terrorism resolutions of the UN Security Council and the UN Global Counter-Terrorism Strategy. It is important in this matter to act in accordance with the “Code of Conduct for a Peace Free from Terrorism," initiated by the Republic of Kazakhstan. To date, over 80 countries have supported this initiative.
With an integrated global-regional approach to the problems of modern international security, including in the fight against terrorism, it is important not to contrast these components, but to strive to find a dialectical relationship between the general and the particular, the CSTO Acting Secretary General said.
He emphasized, the CSTO attaches great importance to the interaction and development of relations in the field of countering terrorism and extremism. In the CSTO Collective Security Strategy adopted in 2016 for the period until 2025, the heads of our states put before the executive and working bodies of the Organization task to take an active part in consolidating international efforts to combat terrorism and extremism. On the whole, Valery Semerikov emphasized, the CSTO is satisfied with how the Organization is developing cooperation with the UN, the OSCE, the CIS, the SCO and their special structures within the framework of existing memoranda and we are in favor of expanding this cooperation. According to him, great potential lies in cooperation with the EU in the context of finding certain common ground on security issues in Central Asia, which are indicated in the updated EU Strategy for this region, which is under the CSTO responsibility.
As regards cooperation with NATO, in May of this year, the Council of Ministers of Foreign Affairs of the CSTO member states, in order to strengthen confidence and develop cooperation between organizations in the issues of jointly countering global challenges and threats, sent an open appeal to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the North Atlantic Alliance, which the CSTO has not yet received an official response from Brussels. I think, said Valery Semerikov, comment is needless here.
Aware of the growing terrorist threat emanating from the territory of Afghanistan, the Acting Secretary General said, in pursuance of the decision of the Collective Security Council, the CSTO has intensified the development of a targeted interstate program to strengthen the Tajik-Afghan border. In addition, the draft List of additional measures of a political, military nature and counteraction to challenges and threats aimed at reducing tension in the Tajik-Afghan border area has been worked out.
Valery Semerikov emphasized that the draft Collective Action Plan of the CSTO member states on the implementation of the UN Global Counter-Terrorism Strategy for 2019-2021 was developed and submitted to the Organization’s statutory bodies in the CSTO format this fall. As an instrument for developing cooperation in the fight against terrorism and extremism, he said, the Organization sees the use of the Partnership and Observation Institute under the CSTO, which the heads of states of the Organization approved last year.
Addressing the conference participants, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of Russia Alexander Pankin emphasized that Moscow has been consistently promoting the idea of combating international terrorism on all international and regional platforms, based on the principles of collective efforts, without double standards and on the basis of mutual consideration of interests, as well as recognition of the universal role in this UN process. Formulating his anti-terrorism strategy, he pointed out, Russia is aimed at building allied interaction with both CSTO partners and other international structures.
In his video message to the forum participants, the UN Under-Secretary-General, the Head of the Counter-Terrorism Security Office of the UN Secretariat, Vladimir Voronkov, emphasized that such events are aimed to more closely link the regional experience in combating terrorism with the global anti-terrorism strategy implemented by the UN. V. Voronkov informed about plans for holding the UN World Counter-Terrorism Week in July 2020, which is expected to contribute to the consolidation of global efforts to combat international terrorism, since, according to him, “no one is able to cope with terrorism alone.”
During the speech, the Director of the Counter-Terrorism Security Office of the UN Secretariat, Jehangir Khan, pointed out that, despite encouraging reports of the elimination of the leader of ISIS al-Baghdadi, this and other international terrorist organizations continue to poison the atmosphere of peace and tranquility in various regions of the world. Moreover, the tactics they use are constantly being improved. International terrorists are increasingly using in their actions modern information and communication technologies, satellite communications, drones, etc. According to him, al-Qaeda and ISIS retain the combat potential of 20-30 thousand militants, who come from 110 countries of the world. The UN, emphasized J. Khan, intends to strengthen cooperation with the CSTO and other regional structures to strengthen the architecture of joint efforts in the fight against international terrorism.
Marcel Peshko, Director of the OSCE Conflict Prevention Center, said about the contribution of the OSCE to collective efforts to combat international terrorism, emphasizing that this structure has consistently advocated a synergy of military, political, economic and humanitarian approaches to countering this universal evil. The OSCE aims to maximize for this purpose the use of the unique tools at its disposal in the form of field presence in the Central Asian region and Eastern Europe. Countering international terrorism, M. Peshko pointed out, should not be declarative, but effective and carried out under the auspices of the UN.
In his speech, the SCO Deputy Secretary General Xie Xiaoyong said that the fight against international terrorism and related extremism is the main goal of the SCO since its founding. To date, the organization has about 600 agreements, programs and mechanisms governing international terrorism counteraction. In 2018, India and Pakistan were involved in the SCO efforts in this direction. The situation in Iraq, Syria and Afghanistan is still in the major focus of the SCO. Inter-Afghan settlement is a key prerequisite in terms of the prospects for solving the international terrorism problem, Xie Xiaoyong noted. The SCO pays special attention to cybersecurity issues, including monitoring of the cyberspace both in the Organization’s area of responsibility and throughout Eurasia. He spoke out for strengthening cooperation in the fight against international terrorism with organizations such as the CSTO, the CIS, ASEAN, Conference on Interaction and Confidence-building Measures in Asia with the UN leading role.
Deputy Chairman of the Executive Committee - the CIS Executive Secretary Sergey Ivanov pointed out that the manifestations of terrorism and related extremism are becoming increasingly aggressive. At the same time, their external financial and material support does not weaken. With this in mind, the CIS, the CSTO, the OSCE, the SCO, the FATF and the UN Counter-terrorism Security Office should act together, more closely coordinating their actions on the antiterrorist way.
In his speech, Anatoly Sidorov, the head of the CSTO Joint Staff, said in detail about the problems of the formation of the Organization’s power component used to neutralize the threats of international terrorism and related extremism. Currently, this component is represented by the CSTO Collective Rapid Reaction Forces (CRRF) of 18 thousand people, to which the Collective Rapid Deployment Forces of the Central Asian Region of 5 thousand people can join. According to the estimates of the Joint Staff, the main source of threats to collective security remains the situation in Afghanistan, where, according to reports, there are more than 60 thousand members of the Taliban and about 11 thousand ISIS militants, many of whom come from post-soviet states. The CSTO's regular military trainings have a restraining effect on forces that harbor hostile intentions against the Organization's member states. In this context, the head of the Joint Staff mentioned the recently completed series of joint CSTO "Combat Brotherhood-2019" trainings held in the Republic of Belarus, Russia, and the Republic of Tajikistan.
Anatoly Sidorov emphasized tht today the CSTO is the only regional organization that has real troops and coalition forces to respond to the challenges and threats associated with international terrorism. At the same time, the chief of the Joint Staff spoke out in favor of working out legal and organizational issues of conducting joint trainings with the participation of troops and special forces of the CSTO and the SCO.
In his speech, the Acting Executive Secretary of the CSTO Parliamentary Assembly, Sergey Pospelov, emphasized the special role of the deputy corps of the CSTO member states in developing the unified legal space of the Organization and creating effective mechanisms for counter-terrorism protection and crisis response to the whole spectrum of possible challenges and threats to national security and sovereignty. To effectively solve this problem, the CSTO Parliament Assembly uses model lawmaking, and the harmonization of legislation and the adoption of model laws of the member states of the Organization have become the most important vectors of the parliamentary dimension and part of its synergetic potential. In total, about 100 model legal acts in the field of security, directly or indirectly reflecting the problems of countering terrorism, have been sent to the national parliaments through the CSTO.
According to the General Director of Interpol Jurgen Stock, an important role in ensuring an effective fight against international terrorism is played by international information exchange and the creation of databases on persons involved in international terrorist activity. At the same time, he highlighted the high involvement of the Russian Federation in this activity and expressed the hope that it would serve as an example for other states that prioritize the fight against international terrorism.
Addressing the conference participants, Marie Dubot, Acting Head of the ICRC Regional Delegation in Russia, the Republic of Belarus and the Republic of Moldova, highlighted the issues of strict observance of international humanitarian law in the fight against international terrorism. She pointed out the inadmissibility of dehumanization of those participants in armed conflicts who were involved into them against their will, becoming victims of circumstances.
According to her, special care is required for women and children who should be returned to their homeland under international control. At the same time, when solving these problems, states need to maintain a reasonable balance between the principles of humanity and security considerations.
