On October 7, 2026, the Fourth Counter-Terrorism Forum opened in Minsk (Republic of Belarus), bringing together the CIS Conference on Countering Terrorism and Extremism, the SCO Regional Anti-Terrorist Structure international scientific and practical conference, and joint counter-terrorism exercises.
October 7 marks the 24th anniversary of the signing of the Charter of the Collective Security Treaty Organization, which formalized the establishment of the CSTO as an international regional organization. The goals set out in the document, including strengthening peace and stability and collectively protecting the independence, territorial integrity and sovereignty of the member states, remain the foundation for developing mutually beneficial, truly allied cooperation. On this basis, the Russian Federation is chairing the CSTO in 2026 under the motto “Collective security in a multipolar world: a common goal, shared responsibility.”
From October 18 to 23 this year, a special exercise codenamed “Cobalt-2026” will be held in the Republic of Tajikistan.
Today, the active phase of the command-and-staff exercise with the Collective Operational Reaction Forces (CORF) of the CSTO “Interaction-2026” and the special exercises “Search-2026” and “Echelon-2026” concluded in the Russian Federation.
A meeting was held between CSTO Secretary General Taalatbek Masadykov and President of Tajikistan Emomali Rahmon
10.04.2026
On 10 April 2026, a meeting was held in Dushanbe between CSTO Secretary General Talatbek Masadykov and President of the Republic of Tajikistan Emomali Rahmon.
A substantive exchange of views was held on a wide range of issues of international policy and security. The interlocutors expressed hope for the settlement of the conflict in the Middle East by diplomatic means, as well as of other armed conflicts affecting the situation in the CSTO area of responsibility.
The parties held a detailed discussion on the situation in Afghanistan. The issue of strengthening the Tajik-Afghan border and the relevant Targeted Inter-State Program being implemented by the CSTO was considered. The sides noted the extremely important significance of the Program for all Central Asian countries and the CSTO member states.
The interlocutors emphasized the importance of further elaborating the issue of establishing a Humanitarian Response Center for the Central Asian region in the Republic of Tajikistan.
The CSTO Secretary General expressed gratitude to the President of the Republic of Tajikistan for the active support of CSTO initiatives and conveyed appreciation to the leadership of the country’s security agencies for comprehensive assistance in preparing and conducting joint exercises, also noting the high level of combat training of Tajik servicemen.
Talatbek Masadykov informed about the progress in implementing the Action Plan for the execution of decisions adopted at the November (2025) session of the CSTO Collective Security Council, the Organization’s priority areas of activity during Russia’s chairmanship, and the series of large-scale joint exercises scheduled for the second half of the year, including “Indestructible Brotherhood”, “Interaction”, “Rubezh”, special exercises “Cobalt” and “Skala”, as well as joint operations “Kanal”, “Mercenary” and “Illegal”.
Among the key areas of joint work, the Secretary General highlighted preparations for upcoming meetings of the CSTO statutory bodies — the Council of Foreign Ministers, the Council of Defense Ministers and the Committee of Secretaries of Security Councils.
