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.”
On 27 April 2026, within the framework of the International Scientific and Practical Conference “Contours of a New Architecture of Collective Security: Current Issues of Information and Analytical Partnership within the CSTO,” held at MGIMO University of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Russia, a round table entitled “Eurasian Analytical Platform: New Approaches in a New Geopolitical Reality” took place. During the event, Head of the Information and Public Relations Department of the CSTO Secretariat Yuriy Shuvalov delivered a presentation on “The Eurasian Analytical Network: A New Cognitive Architecture of Collective Security.”
The subregional anti-drug operation “Kanal-Avangard” was carried out
28.10.2024
In accordance with the CSTO CCBCD Plan of Basic Activities for 2024, in the period from 21 to 25 October this year, in the territory of the CSTO member states, with the aim of suppressing the channels of entry of drugs, their precursors and analogues, new psychoactive and potent substances into the CSTO region of responsibility, neutralizing international transnational drug groups, as well as eliminating clandestine drug production and undermining the economic foundations of the drug business, including the legalization of drug proceeds. The subregional anti-drug operation “Kanal-Avangard” was carried out in order to legalize drug profits.
The operation involved law enforcement agencies, border and customs authorities, state security services, financial intelligence units of CSTO member states, as well as observers from China, Iran, the SCO, the UNODC, the EAG and the CIS.
The international coordination headquarters for managing the operation was deployed in Dushanbe.
The operation involved about 25,000 employees of the competent authorities, canine units, unmanned aerial vehicles, special and inspection equipment.
As a result of coordinated actions, during the period of the operation, according to information from authorized national bodies, 505 kg of narcotic drugs and psychotropic substances, including 162 kg of synthetic drugs, 32 kg of marijuana, 52 kg of hashish, 229 kg of cocaine, 549 kg of precursors and 22 kg of potent substances, were seized from illicit trafficking on the territory of CSTO member states.
612 drug offenses were detected, of which: 92 were committed in group forms and 16 were related to smuggling. Seven drug laboratories were liquidated. 412 persons were detained for committing crimes related to drug trafficking, including 16 wanted persons. 707 Internet sites were identified through which prohibited drug-related information was disseminated. Forty firearms and 1,458 pieces of ammunition of various calibers were seized from offenders.
For the first time in the work of the International Coordination Headquarters on operation management the wing of financial intelligence units of EAG member states united delegates of Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia and Tajikistan in order to jointly realize one of the significant tasks of the operation with drug control authorities - destruction of economic ties of drug crime. A representative of the Iranian Financial Intelligence Service took part in the joint work as an observer.
In the course of the operation's realization, financial intelligence units identified more than 16,000 suspicious financial transactions involving more than 200 persons allegedly involved in drug trafficking. The total amount of identified transactions exceeds 6 billion rubles, most of which are related to the transit of funds, cash deposits and withdrawals, the use of “drop” bank cards and cryptocurrency transactions. The financial intelligence agencies of Kazakhstan and Tajikistan suspended the movement of funds on 31 accounts of the defendants for the amount of about 21 million rubles.
The competent authorities of CSTO member states carried out a number of international controlled deliveries. Several sophisticated smuggling channels for controlled drug connections were uncovered and suppressed, and two cases of legalization of drug proceeds were documented.
Several transnational organized criminal networks were unmasked through joint efforts.
Observers from Iran and China informed the members of the International Coordination Staff about the facts of seizures of large quantities of controlled drugs on their territories during the period of the operation in the CSTO format.
On October 25, 2024, a preliminary summing-up of the results of the operation took place in Dushanbe, with the participation of the Chairman of the CSTO CCBCD, Deputy Minister of Internal Affairs of the Russian Federation, Colonel-General of Police A.I. Khrapov, and the Director of the Drug Control Agency under the President of the Republic of Tajikistan, Major-General of the Drug Control Service Samad Zafar Togoi.
