Meeting of the CSTO Defense Ministers Council in Minsk has discussed challenges and threats to military security in the regions of collective security and issues of improvement of crisis response system

On May 25 this year, in Minsk, Lieutenant General Viktor Khrenin, Minister of Defense of the Republic of Belarus, chaired a meeting of the Council of Defense Ministers of the Collective Security Treaty Organization. Heads of defense ministries of the CSTO member states, the CSTO Secretary General Imangali Tasmagambetov and Colonel General Anatoly Sidorov, Chief of the CSTO Joint Staff, took part in the meeting.

The heads of defense ministries have discussed the challenges and threats to military security in regions of collective security and issues of improving the crisis response system in the format of the Organization.

During the plenary session, the CSTO Defense Ministers Council reviewed and approved the Plan for joint training of command bodies and formations of forces and means of the collective security system of the Collective Security Treaty Organization for 2024, the most significant events of which include joint command-staff and special trainings with the CSTO Troops (Collective Forces).

A list of measures for joint training of command and control bodies and formations of forces and means of the CSTO collective security system for the period until 2030 was approved, which is the basis for annual planning of joint training activities within the CSTO, carried out by the CSTO Joint Staff in cooperation with the CSTO Secretariat and interested ministries and departments of the CSTO member states.

The Council of Defense Ministers also decided to make a number of changes to the Plan of joint training of command bodies and formations of forces and means of collective security system of the CSTO for 2023.

The heads of defense ministries approved the Regulations on material reserves for supplying formations of the CSTO Troops (Collective Forces) and methodological documents of the interstate system of cataloguing supplies for the armed forces of the CSTO member states.

The Council of Defense Ministers decided to submit documents to the Collective Security Council to establish a medal "Together for Peace" to award persons who have contributed to the CSTO peacekeeping activities.

On the same day, in Minsk, in Victory Square, a solemn ceremony was held, during which the heads of delegations participating in the meeting of the CSTO Defense Ministers honored the memory of soldiers who died during the Great Patriotic War, and laid flowers at the eternal flame at the Victory Monument.

For reference: The Council of Ministers of Defense of the Collective Security Treaty Organization is a consultative and executive body of the Organization on coordination of interaction of the member states in the sphere of military policy, military construction and military-technical cooperation. The Council of Defense Ministers consists of the heads of defense ministries of the Republic of Armenia, the Republic of Belarus, the Republic of Kazakhstan, the Kyrgyz Republic, the Russian Federation and the Republic of Tajikistan.