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.
On June 30 – July 1, 2026, Saint Petersburg hosted a series of events chaired by Alexander Kurenkov, Minister of the Russian Federation for Civil Defence, Emergencies and Elimination of Consequences of Natural Disasters, with the participation of heads of the competent authorities of the CSTO member states responsible for emergency prevention and response.
From June 24 to 26, 2026, CSTO Secretary General Talatbek Masadykov paid a working visit to the Republic of Tajikistan at the personal invitation of President Emomali Rahmon.
Improving the CSTO’s protection mechanisms and information space requires consolidating the efforts of the Organization’s member states
21.06.2019
Participants of “the round table”, which took place on June 20 of this year, at the State Duma on the topic: "Development of information and communication cooperation in the CSTO space" came to this opinion.
The event was organized at the initiative of the Secretariat of the Collective Security Treaty Organization and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Russia in accordance with the instruction of the Chairman of the State Duma of the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation, the Chairman of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Collective Security Treaty Organization V. Volodin.
The round table chaired by the Acting Secretary General of the CSTO Valery Semerikov and the Chairman of the Committee for the Commonwealth of Independent States and Relations with Compatriots Leonid Kalashnikov, was attended by the Deputy Minister of Defense - Head of the Main Military-Political Directorate of the Defense Ministry of Russia, Colonel-General Andrei Kartapolov, Chairman of the State Duma Committee on Information Policy, Information Technologies and Communications Leonid Levin, Acting Executive Secretary of the CSTO Parliamentary Assembly Sergey Pospelov, member of the State Duma Committee on Security and Anti-Corruption of the State Duma Anatoly Vyborny, representatives of the Federation Council Committee on Science, Education, Culture and Information Policy, as well as senior officials of the Presidential Administration and the Government, Ministry of Defense, Ministry of Foreign Affairs Ministry of Digital Development, Telecommunications and Mass Communications of the Russian Federation, Federal Agency for the Commonwealth of Independent States, compatriots living abroad and international humanitarian cooperation (Rossotrudnichestvo), the Federal Service for Supervision in the Sphere of Communications, Information Technologies and Mass Communications (ROSCOMNADZOR), authorized in the CSTO social networks and organizations that unite the Internet community, analysts, experts, public figures, representatives of the media of the Russian Federation.
In his speech, the CSTO Acting Secretary General Valery Semerikov emphasized that today the issue of developing information and communication technologies is under close attention of the member states of the Collective Security Treaty Organization, and to solve the existing problems in this area, a number of organizational and practical measures are being taken to develop coordinated approaches and common directions for improving the mechanisms for protecting the information space.
In the presentations made during "the round table" and the exchange of views that were held, not only were the importance and relevance of the issues under consideration highlighted, but also constructive proposals were formulated for their implementation.
Thus, the Chairman of the PA CSTO Standing Committee on Defense and Security, a member of the State Duma Committee on Security and Anti-Corruption, Anatoly Vyborny, proposed to think about the idea of creating a single Internet space of the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO).
Andrei Kartapolov, the Deputy Minister of Defense of Russia, suggested that the countries of the Collective Security Treaty Organization should develop a coherent policy for the development of a common information space and create a joint potential to counter information threats with the growing threat of information security.
Leonid Levin, the Chairman of the State Duma Committee on Information Policy, Information Technologies and Communications, spoke about new aspects of information interaction that need to be implemented in the CSTO space.
Mikhail Bryukhanov, the Deputy Head of the Federal Agency for the Commonwealth of Independent States, compatriots living abroad and for international humanitarian cooperation, focused on preparing high-quality content that takes into account the peculiarities of Rossotrudnichestvo's foreign target audience, which now has 98 offices in 81 countries.
Sergey Pospelov, the Acting Secretary General of the CSTO Parliamentary Assembly, introduced the event to the work carried out by the CSTO Parliamentary Assembly on improving the legal framework for countering challenges and threats in the information environment.
Sergey Nalobin, the Deputy Director of the Information and Press Department of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation, elaborated on effective methods and experience of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in social networks with a foreign audience.
Yevgeny Zaytsev, the Deputy Director of the Federal Service for Supervision in the Sphere of Telecommunications, Information Technologies and Mass Communications, suggested using the experience of Roskomnadzor in preventing the spread of terrorist and extremist content on the Internet.
Alexander Kuznetsov, the Advisor to the Office of Countering the Challenges and Threats of the CSTO Secretariat, revealed in his speech some aspects of organizing and conducting a set of special measures to counter crime on the Internet in the format of the CSTO.
Mark Tverdynin, the member of the Board of the Russian Association of Electronic Communications, focused the discussion on the need to harmonize measures to ensure content security in conditions of hypothetical conflicts and emergency situations.
Vitaly Maximov, the Chairman of the Board of Directors of "Transproekt", in his speech informed about the urgent need to use PPP mechanisms for the development of IT infrastructure and the risks of its use.
Oleg Shakirov, the Senior Expert of the Center for Advanced Management Solutions, told about which approved and effective digital diplomacy tools can be used to solve problems within the framework of the CSTO activities.
Recommendations with the initiatives and proposals submitted by the participants of "the round table" will be sent to the interested ministries and departments of the Russian Federation for the preparation of specific proposals in terms of their improvement and practical application.
Detailed information on the topic of the round table will be presented in the appropriate section of the socio-political publication "ALLIES.CSTO" ("SOYUZNIKI.ODKB" https://odkb-info.org/).
