On 20 December, a joint training session was held between the duty shifts of the CSTO Crisis Response Center and the command posts of the defense and emergency ministries of the Organization's member states.
On 10 and 11 December, the Joint Staff of the Collective Security Treaty Organization hosted videoconference consultations of representatives of interested ministries and departments of the CSTO member states on the organization of joint training activities in 2026 for the CSTO collective security system's command and control bodies and formations.
On December 11, 2024, Taalatbek Masadykov, the CSTO Deputy Secretary General and Special Representative of the CSTO Secretary General for Peacekeeping, held a meeting with the delegation of the Monitoring Group (MG) of the UN Security Council Sanctions Committees 1267/1989/2253 on ISIS and “Al-Qaeda” and 1988 on the Taliban Movement.
On December 11, 2024, the 40th meeting of the Working Group on Afghanistan under the CSTO Ministerial Council was held with the participation of the CSTO Deputy Secretary General S. Ordabayev and the CSTO Deputy Secretary General T. Masadykov. The event was also attended by delegations of the Organization's member states and representatives of the UNOCT, the UNRCCA, the CIS ATC, the Coordination Service of the CIS Council of Commanders of Border Troops, the SCO RATS, and the ICRC.
The results of the international operation of the CSTO "Channel Center" were summed up in Almaty. More than 11 tons of drugs were seized.
01.03.2019
In the period from February 26 to March 1, 2019, the international anti-drug operation of the CSTO “Channel-Center” was conducted.In the interests of ensuring collective security, enhancing the level of practical interaction between the States members of the Collective Security Treaty Organization and other countries to curb the channels of entry and the illegal distribution of new psychoactive substances (NIP) and other synthetic drugs, drugs of the opium and cannabis groups by the competent authorities of the member states In the period from February 26 to March 1, 2019, the CSTO conducted an international anti-drug operation "Channel-Center".
Law enforcement, border, customs, security services, financial intelligence units of the CSTO member states participated in the operation.
The operation is of great interest to the international anti-drug community.
The circle of representatives of the competent authorities of the following states and international organizations that participated in the operation as observers has expanded: Afghanistan, Great Britain, Iran, Italy, China, Mongolia, USA, Turkey, France, United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, Interpol, Drug Prevention Program in Central Asia, the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, the Eurasian Group on Combating Money Laundering and the Financing of Terrorism, the Committee of security departments of the CIS customs services, the Regional Anti-Terrorist Structure of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, the Bureau for Coordination against Organized Crime and Other Dangerous Crimes on the Territory of the CIS Member States, the Criminal Intelligence Center against Drugs of the Arab Gulf Cooperation Council.
The membership of the operation provided an opportunity to strengthen direct contacts between the interacting bodies of the CSTO member states and the states of the Eurasian region, and to establish effective interaction with the observer states.
During the operation “Channel - Center”, special attention was paid to the improvement of partnership mechanisms of regional organizations and associations in conducting joint activities, coordinating their work and enhancing the effectiveness of cooperation.
The international coordination headquarters for the operation was deployed on the basis of the Central Asian Regional Information Coordination Center on combating narcotic drugs, psychotropic substances and their precursors (Alma-Ata, Kazakhstan).
The operation involved more than 20 thousand employees of the competent authorities.
As a result of coordinated actions, about 11.4 tons of drugs were removed from illicit trafficking, more than 8.9 tons of opium, more than 1.8 tons of hashish, more than 221 kg of heroin, more than 127 kg of marijuana, more than 205 kg of drugs of synthetic origin.
784 drug crimes were revealed, about 4 thousand criminal cases were initiated. For illegal operations with drugs, 580 people were brought to administrative responsibility.
307 firearms and about 4.5 thousand ammunition were confiscated.
Thus, during the operation, officers of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia in the Ryazan Region discovered an underground laboratory for the production of synthetic drugs. More than 17 kg of mephedrone and 12.5 kg of amphetamine, as well as instruments and chemical reagents for the production of controlled substances were seized from drug dealers.
During the operation, the law enforcement agencies of the Islamic Republic of Iran carried out a set of special events, as a result of which the activities of a large drug formation were suppressed, the members of which put up armed resistance during the arrest. More than 5.1 tons of opium, 865 kg of hashish were seized.
Law enforcement officers of the Republic of Belarus detained the leader of a transnational criminal organization involved in the laundering of criminal income, who is on the international wanted list at the request of the French authorities.
A series of round tables were held on the “margins” of the event, during which international experts reviewed and discussed the issues of countering illicit drug trafficking and improving the relevant regulatory and legal framework of the participants in the operation, and shared practical experience.
This year it is planned to hold a number of large-scale anti-drug activities in the CSTO format, including with the involvement of special forces of the anti-drug services allocated to the formation of special forces of the Collective Operational Response Forces of the CSTO.
Joint work to strengthen and expand cooperation in the fight against drug trafficking will continue.
