The CSTO Structure

All News Sessions of the CSTO Collective Security Council Authorized organs Trainings of the CSTO Collective Forces Interaction with international organizations

The Collective Security Council is the highest body of the Organization. The Council considers the fundamental issues of the Organization’s activities and makes decisions aimed at the realization of its goals and objectives, as well as ensures the coordination and joint activities of the Member States to achieve these goals. The Council includes heads of the Member States. In the period between sessions of the CSC, the Permanent Council, which consists of authorized representatives appointed by the Member States, is responsible for coordinating the interaction of the Member States in implementing decisions taken by the bodies of the Organization.

The Council of Ministers of Foreign Affairs is a consultative and executive body of the Organization for the coordination of the interaction of the Member States in the field of foreign policy.

The Council of Ministers of Defense is a consultative and executive body of the Organization for coordinating the interaction of the Member States in the field of military policy, military construction and military-technical cooperation.

The Military Committee was established on December 19, 2012 at the Council of Ministers of Defense of the Collective Security Treaty Organization with a view to promptly considering the planning and use of forces and means of the collective security system of the Collective Security Treaty Organization and preparing the necessary proposals for the CMD.

The Committee of Secretaries of Security Councils is the consultative and executive body of the Organization for the coordination of the interaction of the Member States in ensuring their national security.

The Secretary General of the Organization is the highest administrative official of the Organization and administers the Secretariat of the Organization. Appointed by decision of the CSC from among the citizens of the Member States and accountable to the CSC.

The Secretariat of the Organization is a permanent working body of the Organization for the implementation of organizational, informational, analytical and consultative support of the activities of the bodies of the Organization.

The CSC has the right to create, on a permanent or temporary basis, the working and auxiliary bodies of the Organization.

The CSTO United Staff is a permanent working body of the Organization, which is responsible for preparing proposals and implementing decisions on the CSTO military component.

Collective Security Treaty Organization (reference Information)

1. The history of creation, the basis of activity, the organizational structure

The Collective Security Treaty Organization originates in the conclusion of the Collective Security Treaty, which was signed in Tashkent (Uzbekistan) on May 15, 1992 by the heads of Armenia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan. Later he was joined by Azerbaijan, Belarus and Georgia (1993). The Treaty entered into force at the conclusion of the national ratification processes on April 20, 1994. The key article of the Treaty is the fourth, which states that:

“If one of the participating states is subjected to aggression by any state or group of states, then it will be considered as aggression against all the states parties to this Treaty.

In the event of an act of aggression against any of the participating States, all other participating States will provide him with the necessary assistance, including military, and will also provide support at their disposal in exercising the right to collective defense in accordance with Article 51 of the UN Charter. ”

In addition, Article 2 of the Treaty establishes a regional consultation mechanism in the event of a threat to the security, territorial integrity and sovereignty of one or several participating States, or a threat to international peace and security, and also provides for the conclusion of additional agreements governing specific issues of cooperation in the field of collective security. between member states.

Further development of cooperation in the Treaty format required qualitative institutional changes, which led to the signing on October 7, 2002 in Chisinau (Moldova) of the Charter of the Collective Security Treaty Organization, which from the point of view of international law is a regional international security organization.

In accordance with Article 3 of the CSTO Charter, the objectives of the Organization are the strengthening of peace, international and regional security and stability, the protection on a collective basis of the independence, territorial integrity and sovereignty of the member states.

On the basis of Article 5 of the CSTO Charter, the Organization is guided in its activities by the following principles: priority of political means over the military, strict respect for independence, voluntary participation, equality of rights and obligations of member states, non-interference in affairs falling under the national jurisdiction of member states.

To date, the CSTO format has developed an extensive legal framework regulating the activities of the Organization in all major areas of security. To date, 43 international treaties on the most fundamental issues of intergovernmental cooperation in the field of collective security have been concluded and for the most part, 173 decisions of the Collective Security Council on certain areas of cooperation, approval of plans and programs of work on specific collective security issues, solving financial, administrative and staffing issues.

The CSTO bodies, their powers and competence, as well as the procedure and procedures for interaction are determined by the CSTO Charter and the decisions of the Collective Security Council adopted for its development.

1. The statutory bodies exercise political leadership and decide on the main issues of the Organization.

- The Collective Security Council is the highest body of the Organization and consists of the heads of member states. It examines the fundamental issues of the Organization’s activities and makes decisions aimed at the realization of its goals and objectives, as well as ensures the coordination and joint activities of the Member States to realize these goals. The chairmanship of the Council is transferred in the order of the Russian alphabet, unless the Council decides otherwise.

- The Council of Foreign Ministers is an advisory and executive body of the Organization for the coordination of the interaction of member states in the field of foreign policy.

- The Council of Ministers of Defense is a consultative and executive body of the Organization for the coordination of the interaction of member states in the field of military policy, military construction and military-technical cooperation.

- The Committee of Security Council Secretaries is an advisory and executive body of the Organization for coordinating the interaction of member states in ensuring their national security and in countering contemporary challenges and threats.

- The Parliamentary Assembly is the body of inter-parliamentary cooperation of the Organization, which deals with the CSTO activities, the situation in its area of responsibility, the implementation of decisions of statutory bodies and their legal support, discusses the practice of ratifying international treaties concluded within the CSTO.

- The CSTO Permanent Council deals with the coordination of the interaction of member states in the implementation of decisions taken by the CSTO bodies in the period between sessions of the Collective Security Council. It consists of authorized representatives appointed by Member States in accordance with their domestic procedures.

2. Permanent working bodies.

- The CSTO Secretariat provides organizational, informational, analytical and advisory support for the activities of the Organization’s statutory bodies. It implements the preparation of draft decisions and other documents of the organs of the Organization. The Secretariat is formed from the number of citizens of Member States on a quota rotation basis (officials) in proportion to the assessed contributions of Member States to the budget of the Organization and citizens of Member States hired on a competitive basis under the contract (staff). The location of the Secretariat is the city of Moscow, the Russian Federation.

- The CSTO joint headquarters is responsible for preparing proposals and implementing decisions on the formation within the Organization of an effective collective security system, the creation of coalition (regional) groups of troops (forces) and their command bodies, military infrastructure, training of military personnel and specialists for the armed forces, ensuring the necessary weapons and military equipment.

3. Subsidiary bodies that can be created on a permanent or temporary basis for solving the tasks facing the CSTO:

- Coordination Council of Heads of Competent Authorities to Counter Illicit Drug Trafficking;

- Coordination Council of Heads of Competent Authorities for Countering Illegal Migration;

- Coordination Council of Heads of Competent Authorities for Emergency Situations;

- Interstate Commission for Military Economic Cooperation;

- Working Group on Afghanistan under the Council of Ministers of Foreign Affairs of the CSTO;

- Working Group on Information Policy and Information Security under the Committee of Secretaries of the CSTO Security Councils.

2. Political cooperation In accordance with Article 9 of the CSTO Charter, in the format of the Organization, a mechanism of regular political consultations functions, during which assessments of the situation in the CSTO area of responsibility are discussed, common positions are being developed and joint approaches are being sought to current issues on the international agenda, and collective statements are being coordinated. Meetings are held at the level of foreign ministers, their deputies, members of the Permanent Council at the CSTO, as well as experts. Special attention is paid to coordinating the collective steps of member states in international organizations, for which periodic meetings of plenipotentiary representatives of the CSTO member states at the UN, OSCE, NATO, EU and other international structures are convened, which allows for more effective, collectively and concertedly to defend common interests in these international structures. The practice included informal meetings of foreign ministers on the eve of the OSCE Ministerial Council meeting and sessions of the UN General Assembly. Positive experience emerged as a result of the use of collective instructions to plenipotentiaries of member states with international organizations.

Cooperation is developing with other international organizations at the working level. Memorandums of cooperation were signed with the UN, the SCO, the CIS, the EurAsEC, the Union State, the Colombo Plan, the SCO Regional Antiterrorist Structure, the Antiterrorist Center and the Coordination Service of the Council of Commanders of the Border Troops of the CIS.

Representatives of the Secretariat regularly take part in the work of relevant departments of the UN and OSCE. The CSTO Secretary General regularly presents the Organization’s approaches to various topical issues on the international agenda during events held under the auspices of the UN, the OSCE, and other associations. In turn, evidence of the serious focus of these organizations on the development of cooperation with the CSTO were the speeches of their secretaries-general, Ban Ki-moon, Lamberto Zannier at meetings of the Permanent Council at the CSTO

A mechanism has been established for the exchange of views on a wide range of issues of mutual interest between senior executives of EurAsEC, CSTO, CIS and SCO, which allows for a practical level to optimize the distribution of functions between regional organizations whose responsibility is to ensure security in Eurasian states.

In 2010, measures were taken to improve the Organization’s crisis response system. It is complemented by a political mechanism for monitoring and preventing possible conflicts. An algorithm has been developed and tested for the functioning of the CSTO bodies and member states for the prompt provision of logistical and humanitarian assistance, providing information and political support in the event of crisis situations in the zone of operation of the Collective Security Treaty. Obligations on mutual support, including military support, are also extended to cases of armed attacks by illegal armed groups and bandit groups. The possibility of making decisions in a limited format of interested Member States is introduced. A legal framework has been established for emergency consultations and decision-making, including through video conferencing.

3. Military construction

Despite the importance and priority of collective political actions for solving the tasks facing the Organization, the specificity of the CSTO is the availability of capable power potential ready to respond to a wide range of traditional and modern challenges and threats in the Eurasian region.

At present, the Organization’s military (power) component consists of a collective coalition-based rapid reaction force and peacekeeping force, as well as regional groupings of collective security forces and means: collective rapid deployment forces of the Central Asian region, regional Russian-Belarusian grouping of troops (forces) Eastern European region, the United Russian-Armenian grouping of troops (forces) of the Caucasus region. The United Air Defense System of Russia and Belarus is in operation, a Russian-Armenian regional air defense system is being created.

The CSTO RRF (more than 20,000 personnel) are a component of constant readiness and include highly mobile contingents of the armed forces of the member states, as well as the formation of special forces that unite the units of security and special services, internal affairs agencies and internal troops, emergency response agencies . In December 2011, the heads of the member states made a decision on the inclusion of special anti-drug departments in the CRRF.

Collective rapid reaction forces are a universal potential capable of solving problems of resolving conflicts of varying intensity, conducting special operations to curb terrorist attacks, violent extremist actions, manifestations of organized crime, as well as to prevent and eliminate emergency situations.

In accordance with the Agreement on Peacekeeping, the CSTO Peacekeeping Forces (about 3.6 thousand personnel) were created. On a planned basis, they are trained and prepared for solving specific peacekeeping tasks. In 2010, the heads of the member states expressed their willingness, using the peacekeeping potential of the CSTO to assist the United Nations, to contribute to the prevention of armed conflicts and the peaceful resolution of emerging conflict and crisis situations.

Contingents of regional groupings, as well as the forces of the CSTO CRRF, joint combat training is planned. Exercises and training of other preparatory activities are held regularly. The Interstate Target Program for equipping the CSTO CSTO with modern, interoperable weapons and equipment has been approved. For these purposes, the Russian Federation plans to allocate significant financial resources.

Steps are being taken to create integrated military systems: integrated air defense systems in the Central Asian and other regions, a system for managing forces and means of collective security, an information intelligence system, and a technical support system for railways. The organization, along with the implementation of its statutory goals at the regional level, solves the tasks of promoting the development of the national capacities of the member states.

In accordance with the Agreement on the Basic Principles of Military-Technical Cooperation concluded by the member states, delivery of weapons and military equipment to the CSTO allies at preferential (as for their own needs) prices is organized. The agreement played an important role in the fact that over the 10 years of its practical implementation, the supply of military products in the CSTO format increased almost tenfold, turned from a political into a full-fledged economic factor, into a serious basis for the formation of a common arms market for the CSTO. The approaches being implemented have brought benefit to the CSTO member states, amounting to hundreds of millions of US dollars, and modern and sophisticated armaments and military equipment have become a significant part of the supplies.

Military-technical cooperation is complemented by a mechanism of military-economic cooperation, which involves the implementation of joint R & D programs in the CSTO format, and the modernization of weapons and military equipment with appropriate financial support for these activities. The main instruments of cooperation in this area are the Interstate Commission for Military-Economic Cooperation and the Business Council at the ICELV, which are designed to preserve the specialization of defense industries of the member states, work out proposals on the creation of joint ventures for the development, production, disposal and repair of equipment and weapons.

An integral part of cooperation is joint training for the armed forces, law enforcement agencies and special services of member states. Annually, free of charge or on preferential terms, in accordance with agreements existing in the CSTO, only in the Russian Federation are enrolled: up to a thousand citizens of member states go to military universities, up to 100 people to law enforcement and civil universities. A few dozen of relevant educational institutions are currently involved in the training of security professionals.

4. Countering modern challenges and threats

After the decision to make the CSTO multifunctional in 2006, the Organization is increasing its contribution to countering regional challenges and threats. The necessary coordination mechanisms have been created and are successfully functioning to coordinate national activities. The main goal of the CSTO is to reach out to the practical interaction of the relevant services, to ensure the possibility of everyday cooperation of ordinary employees, to get a real return on the efforts made. To this end, under the auspices of the CSTO, collective special operational preventive operations are regularly conducted.

An important practical area of the Organization’s efforts is countering drug trafficking. Under the auspices of the Organization, the Coordination Council of the Heads of Competent Authorities to Counter Illicit Drug Trafficking is conducted by the Regional Anti-Drug Operation Permanent Action Channel, which aims to identify and SVGBlock drug smuggling routes, curb the activities of clandestine laboratories, prevent the diversion of precursors into illegal trafficking, and undermine the economic foundations of the drug business. Representatives of about 30 non-CSTO states, including the United States, European Union countries, a number of Latin American states, as well as experts from international organizations: the OSCE, Interpol and Europol, take part in the operation as observers. In total, about 245 tons of drugs, including more than 12 tons of heroin, about 5 tons of cocaine, 42 tons of hashish, as well as over 9,300 firearms and about 300,000 pieces of ammunition were seized during the Canal operations.

In February 2011, the heads of the CSTO member states adopted a Statement on the problem of the threat of drugs emanating from Afghanistan. Work continues in the UN Security Council to promote the initiative to give the Afghan drug industry the status of a threat to peace and security.

Under the leadership of the Coordinating Council of the heads of the competent authorities to counter illegal migration, coordinated operational and preventive measures and special operations and to counter illegal migration are carried out, which include joint efforts to SVGBlock the channels of illegal migration of third-country nationals and curb the criminal activities of traffickers and organized illegal groups.

Joint efforts are being undertaken in the field of ensuring international information security. The interaction of special units of the security and internal affairs agencies is actively developing in order to curb crimes in the field of modern information technologies as part of Operation Proxy. By the decision of the President of the Russian Federation, a Center for Modern Information Technologies was created on the basis of MSU, where training of specialists in the field of information security was organized. The last stream of 19 attendees - representatives of Member States completed their studies at the Center on December 14, 2012.

5. Information work and inter-parliamentary cooperation

Interparliamentary cooperation plays an important role in the activities of the Organization. Since 2006, the CSTO Parliamentary Assembly (reference) has been in operation, which, in essence, is the second carrier after the instruments of the executive power that ensures stability in the CSTO activities.

PA CSTO is an important means of political cooperation of the CSTO. The flexibility of parliamentary work makes it possible, when necessary, to be more responsive and open when responding to current events in international life, while establishing contacts with our partners in the West. Traditionally, in order to analyze the military-political situation in the regions of collective security, retreat meetings of the standing committees of the Parliamentary Assembly are held with a subsequent report to the PA Council.

The CSTO Parliamentary Assembly also plays a significant role in ensuring uniform approaches to the harmonization of legislation, work on convergence of the legal fields of member states, primarily on the main activities of the Organization, namely: drug trafficking, illegal migration, the fight against terrorism and organized crime.

The CSTO conducts intensive information and analytical work, actively interacts with the media, journalistic organizations and the press services of the authorities of the member states in order to complement efforts in the field of information cooperation, countering the propaganda of violence, racist ideology and xenophobia. The publication of the CSTO, which is the Allied periodical information and analytical magazine, is published. A weekly television program of the same name was organized at MTRK Mir. Radio Russia publishes a monthly program, International Policy - CSTO.

The experts of the CSTO Institute conduct fundamental and applied research on a wide range of issues related to the Organization. The Bureau of the CSTO Institute operates in Armenia, its representative office is open in Ukraine. The CSTO Scientific Expert Council functions, within the framework of which, with the involvement of experts from leading scientific centers of the member states, topical problems of the formation of a collective security system in modern geopolitical conditions are examined.