On July 15, 2026, the High-Level Regional Meeting “Enhancing Capacities to Prevent the Supply of Weapons to Terrorists in Central Asia” was held in Moscow, organized by the United Nations Office of Counter-Terrorism with the participation of the Russian side.
On July 14, 2026, a working meeting was held at the CSTO Secretariat between CSTO Deputy Secretary General Valery Semerikov and UN Assistant Secretary-General Alexander Zuev.
From July 7 to 9, second staff talks were held in the Russian Federation on the organization and conduct of the CSTO Collective Rapid Reaction Forces (CRRF) command-and-staff exercise “Interaction-2026”, the special reconnaissance exercise “Poisk-2026”, and the logistics support exercise “Echelon-2026”.
In accordance with the 2026 Action Plan of the Coordinating Council of Heads of the Competent Authorities for Countering Illicit Drug Trafficking of the CSTO Member States, and as part of the Russian Federation's priorities during its 2026 CSTO Chairmanship, the sub-regional counter-narcotics operation “Kanal – Amber Coast” was conducted from June 29 to July 3, 2026. The operation was aimed at disrupting trafficking routes for narcotic drugs, their precursors and analogues, new psychoactive substances, and potent substances into the CSTO area of responsibility, neutralizing international transnational drug trafficking groups, dismantling clandestine drug production facilities, undermining the economic foundations of the drug trade, including the laundering of drug proceeds.
The 12th Southern Information Security Forum “Infoforum Sochi 2026” is taking place in Sochi, Russia, from June 30 to July 3. On July 1, the Forum's plenary session brought together representatives of federal and regional authorities, regulatory bodies, leading companies, and international organizations to discuss current challenges in the protection of critical infrastructure, the development of artificial intelligence, and international cooperation.
The 17th anniversary of the CSTO Joint Staff creation
28.04.2020
17 years ago - on April 28, 2003, in the city of Dushanbe, the Collective Security Council of the Collective Security Treaty Organization, decided to create a permanent working body - the CSTO Joint Staff. Creating the organization, the Collective Security Council guided by the need to create a military staff body responsible for the implementation of the tasks of the military component of the Collective Security Treaty.
Today, within the framework of preventive measures, the Organization actively utilizes the capabilities of the CSTO Crisis Response Center, closely interacts with the ministries and departments of the Organization's member states, and monitors the military-political and epidemiological situation in the collective security regions.
Speaking about the 17th anniversary, the Head of the CSTO Joint Staff, Colonel General Anatoly Sidorov noted that the team successfully completed all the tasks over the past year. He also expressed confidence that henceforth, the personnel of the Joint Staff, despite the pandemic, will show high professionalism, coordination in work and a creative approach in solving problems aimed at improving the Collective Security Treaty Organization of the Collective Security Treaty Organization.
The main efforts in the activities of the multinational staff of the Joint Staff last year were focused on organizing the implementation of decisions of the CSTO state heads, heads of defense departments on the development of the military component of the Organization and improving crisis response mechanisms.
In 2019, the most important document for the development of the military component of the Organization was prepared - the draft Plan for the Development of Military Cooperation of the CSTO Member States for 2021-2025. The Plan defines the further priorities of coalition military construction for the medium term.
The issues of organizing the material and technical support of the CSTO Troops (Collective Forces) are being improved - a Working Group has been created under the CMD CSTO, which is dictated by the relevance of the development of the CSTO Troops (Collective Forces) logistical support system as one of the most important areas for ensuring the collective security of the Collective Security Treaty Organization.
Within the framework of the joint operational-strategic training “Combat Brotherhood-2019”, the following events were organized and successfully held: a joint business game, a series of trainings with the CSTO Troops (Collective Forces) components, with reconnaissance forces and means, and for the first time in the CSTO format, a special training with forces and means of logistics "Echelon-2019".
The Joint Staff is entrusted with the tasks associated with the formation, functioning and use of the Troops (Collective Forces), the preparation and holding together with the defense departments of the Organization member states of joint operational events and combat training, military-technical cooperation, coordination of joint training of personnel and specialists for the armed forces of the member states, as well as with the organization of the functioning of the CSTO Crisis Response Center.
