Theses of the speech of the CSTO Secretary General at the meeting of the Council of the CSTO Parliamentary Assembly on May 19, 2025 (Bishkek, Kyrgyz Republic) on the theme: “On the implementation of the decisions of the November (2024) session of the CSTO Collective Security Council and measures taken to counter challenges and threats to collective security”.

Dear Chairperson, Dear members of the Council of the CSTO Parliamentary Assembly,

I am grateful to you for the invitation to address today's meeting of the Council of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Collective Security Treaty Organization.

I am pleased to note that every year the parliamentary dimension is becoming an increasingly important component of the overall work to strengthen and develop our Organization and to fully implement the tasks facing it.

I should like briefly to draw your attention to the key events in the sphere of international relations and to inform you about the situation in the regions directly adjacent to the CSTO area of responsibility.

The First. There is political and diplomatic dialog between Russia and the United States, which is cautiously optimistic. The very fact of contacts between Russian and American representatives is important from the point of view of normalizing the military and political situation in the world. Undoubtedly, the multiplier effect of the Russian-American dialog will have a very direct impact on world processes and will help to reduce tension in various regions of Eurasia, including in the CSTO area of responsibility.

The Second. According to experts, there are advances in the Iranian case. This is the holding of indirect talks between the United States and Iran in Oman.

The Third. There are some preconditions for stabilizing the situation on the Korean peninsula, contributing to the stability of the entire North-East Asia.

At the same time, the sharp escalation in relations between India and Pakistan, which has led to serious armed clashes, is a cause for concern. Despite the recent “de-escalation” of the confrontation, there is nevertheless still a high potential for the conflict to move into a “hot phase”. We are convinced that both parties to the conflict and the international community should use all available opportunities to de-escalate the armed confrontation and find peaceful ways out of the current situation.

The Fourth. The most important positive developments are taking place in the Central Asian region. The signing of the Treaty on the State Border between the Kyrgyz Republic and the Republic of Tajikistan on March 13, 2025 is very significant. Thanks to the consistent efforts and political will of the Leaders of the two countries, the line of the state border along its entire almost thousand-kilometer length was agreed upon. An additional factor in stabilizing the situation was the signing by the Presidents of Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan on 31 March 2025 of the Treaty “On the junction point of state borders” of the three countries.  

The Fifth. There are certain positive developments in the Caucasus. These are statements by the Republic of Armenia and the Republic of Azerbaijan on the conclusion of negotiations and agreement on the text of an interstate document on peace between the two countries. We express our hope that the document will be signed as soon as possible and expect that its realization will pave a reliable path to peace and stability in the South Caucasus.

Dear Members of the Council,

In 2025, the Chairmanship of the Kyrgyz Republic is held under the motto “80 Years of the Great Victory”.

In November 2024, the CSTO Collective Security Council adopted an Action plan to celebrate the 80th anniversary of the Victory in the Great Patriotic War of 1941-1945, which to a large extent has already been successfully implemented.

The Organization acts as a worthy heir to those traditions that helped the peoples of the USSR to win the Great Victory. And of course, preserving the historical memory of the Great Patriotic War, the heroic deeds of our fathers, passing on the traditions of our culture, the principles of generosity and courage is not only our duty, but also a guarantee of continuity in the glorious history of our peoples.

On 24 April this year, the Organization held a large-scale international scientific and practical conference on “The Contribution of the Peoples of the CSTO Member States to the Victory in the Great Patriotic War”, timed to coincide with the 80th anniversary of the Great Victory. A thorough and competent conversation took place between prominent statesmen and authoritative representatives of the CSTO member states, as well as colleagues from the CIS and the Union State.

The presentation of the Encyclopedia “The Great Patriotic War of 1941-1945” was a significant event within the framework of the Conference. 

This encyclopedic publication was prepared by the joint efforts of the Research Institute of Military History of the Military Academy of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation and the CSTO Secretariat. The key place in the Encyclopedia is given to the consideration of various aspects of the heaviest and bloodiest of the wars in the history of mankind, which ended victoriously thanks to the unity, unbending steadfastness and heroic self-sacrifice of the peoples of our countries. It shows the personalities of heroes, combat brotherhood and labor exploits of people of different nationalities, together making up the Soviet people, which made the long-awaited Great Victory a reality.

The Encyclopedia was sent to the Libraries of Parliaments of the CSTO member states. 

A special Final Address was adopted as a result of the Conference.

Dear parliamentarians,

The Astana session of the SCS has convincingly demonstrated the need for further improvement of the collective security system in all its basic elements - coordination of political activities, military cooperation, countering transnational challenges and threats.

The well-established practice of consultations demonstrates the rhythm of our Organization's work. The Council of Foreign Ministers has approved the plan for consultations of representatives of member states on foreign policy, security and defense issues for 2025-2027. In the coming days (21 May), consultations of representatives of the CSTO member states on topical issues of arms control, disarmament and non-proliferation will take place.

Joint statements by the CSTO member states aimed at conveying to international political and public circles agreed positions on the Organization's priority problems remain a popular form of fixing agreed positions.

Interaction with international organizations, primarily the UN, the CIS and the SCO, will remain an important area for the CSTO and its Secretariat.

Our leading international partner is the United Nations. Objectively, the interests of the CSTO and the United Nations in maintaining peace and security coincide. We will consistently develop cooperation, first and foremost in the areas of peacekeeping, combating terrorism and drug trafficking and countering threats in the area of international information security. The Organization's approach to cooperation with the United Nations was updated following the results of the participation of the senior officials of the CSTO, the CIS and the SCO in the debate held on 19 July 2024 at a meeting of the United Nations Security Council on the subject: “United Nations cooperation with regional organizations: the CSTO, the CIS and the SCO”.

During the November meeting of the 79th session of the UN General Assembly, a regular Resolution on “Cooperation between the UN and the CSTO” was adopted. Work has begun on preparing the text of the next biennial Resolution, now for the 81st session of the UN General Assembly.

In accordance with the CSTO CSC decision of 23 November 2022 “On intentions to develop CSTO cooperation with the CIS and the SCO”, the CSTO Secretariat is systematically working with the above-mentioned organizations. Meetings of the senior administrative officials of the CSTO, the CIS and the SCO are held on a regular basis, at which views are exchanged on a wide range of problems of mutual interest.

In this regard, we note the usefulness of regular contacts with the United Nations bodies and also with the Special Representatives of the Secretary-General for Afghanistan and Central Asia. The exchange of views testifies to the proximity of both general assessments of the possible development of the situation in the region and specific preventive action.

We are generally satisfied with the development of our cooperation with the United Nations Counter-Terrorism Office and the Executive Director of the Counter-Terrorism Committee of the United Nations Security Council, as well as the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, within the framework of the existing memorandums. We are interested in further expanding this cooperation. We have effective practical experience - methods of cooperation that have been developed over the years, aimed at depriving international terrorist organizations of a “breeding ground”. They are being implemented mainly on the basis of planned preventive and operational measures conducted by the competent bodies of the CSTO member states, such as operations “Channel”, “PROXY”, “Illegal” and “Mercenary”. Their purpose is to systematically counter illicit drug trafficking, suppress illegal migration and prevent the use of information and communication technologies in the interests of the international terrorist international, as well as to block channels for recruiting and the entry/exit of citizens of our states to participate in terrorist activities and to neutralize the resource base of terrorist organizations.

Strengthening regional security and stability in Eurasia is inextricably linked to the further development of the trilateral format of cooperation between the CSTO, the CIS and the SCO in these areas. We believe that these three organizations, which are close in spirit and in political priorities, can jointly set the tone for efforts to create a new continental security architecture, to link integration projects and to harmonize relations between development centers in Eurasia.

A Draft Road Map for the development of cooperation between the CSTO, the CIS and the SCO has been prepared by the CSTO Secretariat and provisionally agreed upon in the course of consultations held on 17 February this year at the level of the deputy Secretaries-General of the CSTO, the CIS and the SCO.  It is now being considered in the CIS and SCO member states. We plan to sign it by the Secretaries-General of the three organizations before the end of this year.

Now a few words about Afghanistan. In the Central Asian region, the challenges emanating from this country retain a high destabilizing potential for the spread of terrorism, illegal arms and drug trafficking to the territory of the CSTO member states. At the same time, the Taliban regime is proving to be a long-term political factor. A number of the CSTO member states (Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Russia) have intensified bilateral contacts with the Afghan authorities in order to help improve social stability and maintain security in that country. The Secretariat considers it important to continue monitoring the situation in Afghanistan and to increase the coordination of efforts to counter threats emanating from it. The development of dialog within the Working Group on Afghanistan under the CSTO Ministerial Council.

In 2025, substantive and practical work continues to improve the CSTO's preparedness to counter potential threats emanating from Afghanistan. I will only mention a number of events that have taken place recently:

1.From March 17 to 20 this year, the CSTO member states conducted a strategic command-staff training to prevent a crisis situation in the Central Asian region of collective security.

2. On March 19 of this year, a meeting of the heads of national headquarters for the CSTO permanent operation to combat crimes in the field of information technologies (Operation “PROXY”) was held. 

3. On 26 March this year, a meeting of the international headquarters of the CSTO regional operation “Illegal-2025” was held to agree on the timing of the stages of active measures and the procedure for cooperation.

4. On April 3 this year, a meeting of the Working Group of the Coordination Council of the Heads of Competent Bodies for Countering Illicit Drug Trafficking of the CSTO Member States took place in the Kyrgyz Republic, where large-scale international anti-drug operations were agreed upon for the current year.

The adoption of the Special Interstate Policy for strengthening sections of the Tajik-Afghan Border is evidence of the common willingness of the Allies to work together to strengthen the Organization's southern borders. The challenge now is to fully implement it. On April 11, 2025, I met with the President of the Republic of Tajikistan, Emomali Rahmon, in Dushanbe on this issue. Particular attention was paid to the issues of the phased implementation of the Special Interstate Policy in terms of financial provision, as well as the nomenclature of armaments and technical means.

Dear parliamentarians,

Priority attention continues to be given to further strengthening the CSTO's force component and improving the systems of joint training and management of its Collective Forces.

In general, I should like to note the high intensity of the joint training activities, taking maximum account of the experience of modern armed conflicts.  

In 2024, all joint training activities were carried out on time and in full. In this connection, I note the high professionalism and combat skills of the servicemen who took part in the past joint trainings.

The plan for joint training of the CSTO collective security system's management bodies, forces and means for 2025 envisages a number of trainings on the territory of CSTO member states:

1.The Republic of Belarus.

Joint training with the CSTO CRRF “Interaction-2025”, special trainings with the forces and means of intelligence “Search-2025” and logistics support of the CSTO Troops (Collective Forces) “Echelon-2025”.

2. The Republic of Tajikistan.

Joint training “Indestructible Brotherhood-2025” with the CSTO Peacekeeping Forces and special training “Barrier-2025” with the joint CSTO NBC defense and medical support formation.

3. The Kyrgyz Republic.

Command and staff training with the Collective Rapid Deployment Forces of the Central Asian region “Rubezh-2025” and operational training with the CRDF CAR Command.

Dear Parliamentarians,

In the field of countering challenges and threats, the Organization has been consistently building capacity and experience to improve the effectiveness of the fight against terrorism and extremism, countering drug trafficking; combating illegal migration, countering crimes in the field of information technology. 

In 2024, the anti-terrorist operation “Mercenary-2024” and the special training “Cobalt-2024” were successfully conducted.

The CSTO Secretariat provided assistance in the CSTO subregional anti-drug operations “Channel-Far East Raid” and “Channel-Avangard”. New algorithms for anti-drug partnerships with the SCO and the Eurasian Group on Combating Money Laundering and the Financing of Terrorism, as well as the law enforcement agencies of China and Iran, have been developed. The participation of financial monitoring units of the Organization's member states in the operation has been brought to a new level. 

Active work was carried out to counter illegal migration in the territory of CSTO member states as part of Operation “Illegal-2024”.

Cooperation continued to be developed within the framework of the operation to combat crimes in the sphere of information technology (Operation “PROXY”).

Coordination of activities in the area of preventing and countering biological threats is being carried out with a view to establishing a reliable system for ensuring CSTO biological security.

Dear Parliamentarians,

These are, in general, the main results and plans of our Organization. I would like to emphasize that last year we have done quite extensive and professional work.

I am convinced that in 2025 we will be able to achieve all our goals. Thank you for your attention.