On May 7, the CSTO Secretary General Talatbek Masadykov held a working meeting in Moscow at the CSTO Joint Staff aimed at improving issues related to crisis response and expert cooperation.
On May 6, 2026, a meeting was held at the CSTO Secretariat between the CSTO Secretary General Talatbek Masadykovand newly appointed Permanent and Plenipotentiary Representative of the Republic of Belarus to the CSTO Vladimir Bespaly.
28 April marks the Day of the CSTO Joint Staff. It should be recalled that on 28 April 2003, in Dushanbe, the Collective Security Council, guided by the need to establish a military staff body responsible for implementing the military component of the Collective Security Treaty, adopted the Decision “On the Establishment of the Joint Staff of the Collective Security Treaty Organization.”
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.
