The 23rd meeting of the Military Committee on military cooperation development among the CSTO member states under the supervision of the Chairman of the Military Committee, Chief of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation - First Deputy Minister of Defense of the Russian Federation, Army General Valery Gerasimov, took place today via videoconferencing.
From April 8 to 11, 2024, the XXI International Seminar-Meeting on Combined Martial Arts with the heads of combat and physical training of the security ministries and agencies of the CSTO member states took place at the Park Hotel "Horizon", Odintsovo District, Moscow Region.
The event was addressed by Gennady Troislit, the Deputy Head of the Organizational and Planning Department of the CSTO Secretariat, and Oleg Ufimtsev, the President of the Russian Federation of Combined Martial Arts.
On May 16, in Moscow, the CSTO member States leaders met to mark the 30th anniversary of the signing of the Collective Security Treaty and the 20th anniversary of the CSTO. The Statement by the Collective Security Council members has been adopted
16.05.2022
On May 16, this year, in the Kremlin in Moscow, a meeting of the heads of the member States of the Collective Security Treaty Organization took place, which was attended by the Prime Minister of the Republic of Armenia Nikol Pashinyan, the President of the Republic of Belarus Alexander Lukashenko, the President of the Republic of Kazakhstan Kassym-Jomart Tokayev, the President of the Kyrgyz Republic Sadyr Japarov, the President of the Russian Federation Vladimir Putin and the President of the Republic of Tajikistan Emomali Rakhmon.
The meeting was dedicated to the 30th anniversary of the signing of the Collective Security Treaty and the 20th anniversary of the CSTO.
Members of the CSTO Collective Security Council have discussed the situation in the Organization's area of responsibility, the prospects for its development and adopted the Statement dedicated to the anniversary of the CSTO.. The decision of the Collective Security Treaty Organization Collective Security Council "On Awarding decorations of the CSTO Collective Security Organization to Participants of the CSTO Peacekeeping Operation in the Republic of Kazakhstan" was also signed. .
Speech by the President of the Republic of Belarus Alexander Lukashenko at the CSTO leaders' meeting in Moscow
Today's meeting comes at a difficult time, as Vladimir Vladimirovich just said. It is a time of redivision of the world. The unipolar world order system is irrevocably becoming a thing of the past. But the collective West is engaged in a bitter struggle to maintain its position. All sorts of means are being used, including those within the area of responsibility of our Organization. Fr om brandishing NATO’s arms near our western borders to the full-scale hybrid war unleashed against us, primarily against Russia and Belarus.
NATO is aggressively building its power, dragging yesterday's neutrals, Finland and Sweden, into its net. It acts on the principle of "who is not with us is against us”. It hypocritically continues to declare its defensive orientation.
Against this background, the truly defensive and peace-loving position of the Collective Security Treaty Organization looks in contrast.
On the western flank of our organization, the US military presence is increasing, military infrastructure is being modernized at an accelerated pace, and numerous NATO trainings are taking place. Right now, a large-scale training (never seen before) called “Defender of Europe-2022” is taking place in 19 European countries, including near our borders in Poland. Guess who they are defending themselves against.
There is still a grouping of about 15,000 troops on the Belarusian-Polish border, stationed there last year under the pretext of a migration crisis. This is in addition to those permanent troops that were present there. Last year, 15 thousand, mostly Americans, were deployed there. The migrants are long gone, and the troops are still there. The question is, why?
It is clear that today no country poses a threat to the North Atlantic bloc. Moreover, in addition to 15,000 troops deployed in Poland and the Baltic states in the U.S. forces' operations "Atlantic Resolve" and NATO's Joint Force "Enhanced Forward Presence", an additional grouping arrived to strengthen the alliance's eastern flank. There are over 10,000 troops. If for example seven years ago there were 3.5 thousand troops in this area, now there are about 40 thousand. I am not talking about Ukraine yet.
And that is where our military interaction within the framework of the Union State of the Republic of Belarus and Russia and Belarus' membership in the CSTO are the stabilizers that have a certain sobering effect on the hotheads on the other side of the border. This example shows that if it were not for that, I am afraid that a hot war would have already been on the territory of the Republic of Belarus. By the way, they tried that in 2020.
There is no more pressing and important issue today than the conflict over Ukraine. Since 2014, we have all provided all the necessary assistance to resolve it. In principle, we are ready, all of us around the table, to do so now in any format.
It is clear that Ukraine has been poisoned and incited by nationalism, by Nazism, and as witnessed in Odessa, when living people were burned, by fascism, by Russophobia, and by weapons. They poisoned it with everything they could.
After the elections in the Republic of Belarus in August 2020, Ukraine completely, as they say in our country, was under the control of the West with regard to interaction with Belarus. Over the past two years we have been constantly experiencing unfriendly actions on the part of our southern neighbor. Ukraine was proactive in imposing sanctions against us. That is, the West has not yet imposed any sanctions, including the Americans. Ukraine was the first to do it. Remember, they closed the skies, the railroads. Then they started to train fighters, to plant them on us. Then weapons went across the border. This is all known. It carried out provocative actions by aviation by conducting reconnaissance by Ukrainian drones in the airspace of the Republic of Belarus. The facts speaking about the threat to our national security are indisputable.
That is why we were absolutely right to use the mechanism of support within the framework of an alliance with Russia. Even before Russia's military operation, the Republic of Belarus had drawn attention to the unjustified growth of the West's military presence in Ukraine and in the region as a whole. We have repeatedly spoken about this and warned that this is heading for a conflict.
We expected that the West, and especially the U.S., would still take advantage of Russia's well-known proposal to start negotiations on security guarantees. Sooner or later in the foreseeable future, this process will begin anyway. But what will be left of Ukraine and our region by then is the question. So far in the West, including Washington, we see only a desire to prolong the conflict as much as possible. That is why they keep pumping weapons into Ukraine. The goals are clear: to weaken Russia as much as possible, drowning it, as they say, in this war. Or, perhaps, to make it burn wider. And that's what we are witnessing, too. If this is the plan, then probably no one will be able to sit back.
The most dangerous trend in Ukraine today is attempts to dismember Ukraine. Thousands of units have already been created to enter and "protect" Ukraine under the guise of peacekeepers.
In the face of complete disregard for the norms and principles of international law, the unity and solidarity of like-minded people is especially important. The CSTO member States showed such solidarity and help in a difficult time in January of this year. You remember the events in the Republic of Kazakhstan. The timeliness and swiftness of that step demonstrated to the world the close allied ties and the capability and capacity of the Organization to ensure the security of its member States. No one in the West even dared to get involved in that situation. Because together we are power.
However, can it be said today that we in our Organization are together and still bound together by ties of solidarity and support. As recent events show, fr om our point of view (I may be wrong), it seems not. Just look at the ban by certain partners in the CSTO on flights to them by national airlines of other member States of this Organization. The postulates of unity and solidarity do not always work against a background of the most brutal and fierce sanctions pressure fr om the consolidated West. This is evident, unfortunately, in the voting in international organizations. With the tacit consent of our partners, Belarus and Russia, contrary to all the laws of international life, are being vilified and excluded from international organizations at the whim of the West.
Yes, there is pressure on you, the members of the CSTO. The pressure is harsh and unprincipled. But it is precisely for such situations that collective mutual support exists.
Without the rapid consolidation of our countries, without strengthening our political, economic and military ties, we may not exist tomorrow. Our enemies and opponents are systematically undermining our footholds and allied ties. And in this we ourselves are partly helping the West. I am sure that if we had spoken with one voice at once, there would not have been these hellish, as they say, sanctions.
Look at how monolithic the European Union votes and acts, how strong their intra-bloc discipline is. It applies automatically even to those who do not agree with the decisions made. The question is who prevents us from using this bloc resource. This is wh ere we need to take an example from them. Alone, we will be crushed and torn apart.
Back in January, I warned that the main goal of certain external forces was to undermine stability and disrupt the evolutionary path of development throughout the post-Soviet space. They started with Belarus, then the contagion spread to Kazakhstan, and now Russia is next in line. As we can see, they are also creating problems in Armenia.
We shouldn't think that someone will be spared. It is absolutely obvious now that the collective West will increase its own pressure, if it is not met with united opposition from its allies within the Organization and other integration organizations in the post-Soviet area.
What should be done to strengthen the CSTO in the current unprecedented situation: so far I can see the following steps, just the first ones, there are many of them. Emomali Sharipovich (President of Tajikistan Emomali Rakhmon) spoke about them very much in his time, referring to the problem of that region.
The first. Strengthening political interaction and coordination among the CSTO member States. We need to increase the effectiveness of the mechanism of consultations on foreign policy and security issues. We need to speak more often on behalf of the CSTO in international forums, so that the voice and position of the Organization would be visible and heard. And this voice and position must be united as in the West.
Let our foreign ministers think about wh ere and how to do this for optimal effect. Let them think about how we should respond politically to the new wave of NATO enlargement, taking into account the announced intentions of prominent states. We must work out in advance the Organization's position on this issue and communicate our interests to the international community. We must be united in this. It is not only Russia that should express concern and fight, at this moment alone, against the attempted NATO enlargement.
The second. Increasing the effectiveness of countering challenges and threats in the information space, including the fight against fakes and disinformation. It is clear that a hybrid war is now being waged against us with information warfare as its main component. In order to counter this, we should make maximum use of the potential of the CSTO agreement of 2017 on cooperation in the field of information security and actively promote the CSTO in social networks, which are intensively used by our Western opponents, in order to respond effectively to fakes and information throws. At the same time, we should think seriously and maybe follow China's path in the information fight, especially on the Internet.
Everyone - foreign policy agencies, special services, and the CSTO Secretariat - should be given appropriate tasks.
The third. There is a clear need to strengthen the forecasting and analytical component in the work of the CSTO Secretariat. I am sure there are similar structures in the UN, the European Union and NATO. Perhaps we should consider creating a unit in the Secretariat responsible for analysis and strategic planning. I think the Secretary General should work on this issue.
The fourth. It is advisable to consider uniting the potential of analytical centers of the CSTO member States and forming a network of these structures to assist in the preparation of conceptual documents on current issues on the international agenda.
Dear friends, the fact that I am proposing such seemingly simple things at this very difficult time is due to the fact that we will not immediately agree on the more complex ones. Maybe these will be the first steps. And we must go further and deeper, as they used to say.
Dear colleagues, it is clear to everyone that the historical era that existed before is coming to an end. And there will be no going back to the previous order. We cannot allow a new international architecture to be created without us. And there is already talk about this in the West. I believe that the CSTO must firmly strengthen its status in the international system of checks and balances.
The Organization has a powerful collective potential for further progressive development. But how effectively it will use it, and whether it will survive the next 10-20 or 30 years, depends only on us today. It is up to us.
After the Republic of Armenia, the CSTO chairmanship will go to the Republic of Belarus. In addition to the aforementioned promising areas of work, we are already seriously thinking about new proposals aimed at the development of our Organization. These directions will be communicated to you in the nearest future. We expect maximum support and constructive work from all of you, our colleagues. We have no other choice.
Thank you for your attention!
Speech by the President of the Republic of Kazakhstan Kassym-Jomart Tokayev
Dear Nikol Vovayevich! Dear colleagues!
First of all, I would like to express my gratitude to the Russian President Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin for organizing this anniversary session of the Collective Security Council. Indeed, today we have a unique forum, dedicated, one might say, to the double anniversary of the CSTO.
Over the years, our Organization has established itself as an effective multilateral cooperation mechanism with serious potential for further development.
With the creation of the CSTO, a solid system of collective security was built across the vast expanse of Eurasia. Its main tasks are to strengthen peace and stability, international and regional security, and to protect the territorial integrity and sovereignty of its member States.
The permanent working bodies of the CSTO are functioning successfully, and various formats of close cooperation and even interaction are in operation. The force, law enforcement and peacekeeping potential is being strengthened.
Particular attention is paid to countering international terrorism and extremism, illicit trafficking in drugs and weapons, and illegal migration. In this context, we attach great importance to the development of the situation in Afghanistan. The unstable situation in that country as well as the unflagging activity of armed groups on the territory of Afghanistan still threaten the security and stability of our states. I believe that the CSTO should take into account all potential threats and pay even more attention to ensuring the security of the southern borders of Central Asia.
In the near term, an absolute priority is the development of the Organization's peacekeeping capabilities. Work in this area is being actively pursued. A CSTO Peacekeeping Forces has been created and is being improved every year, and a plan is being developed to equip it with modern weapons, equipment and special means.
As you know, the Republic of Kazakhstan initiated the establishment of the institution of the Special Representative of the Secretary General [CSTO] for the development of peacekeeping. Thus, all the necessary instruments have been formed, and, in our opinion, the task of involving the CSTO in the peacekeeping activities of the United Nations should already be set.
This step will strengthen the CSTO's legal personality and ensure the Organization's participation in international peacekeeping operations.
Dear Colleagues!
Our assessments of the development of the CSTO and our common vision of current aspects of international and regional security have formed the basis of the anniversary statement of the Collective Security Council. I thank the Republic of Armenia for its fruitful chairmanship and the Russian side for the timely initiative to hold this forum.
Thank you for your attention. .
Speech by the President of the Kyrgyz Republic Sadyr Japarov
Good afternoon!
Dear Vladimir Vladimirovich, Dear Chairman of the CSTO Collective Security Council Nikolay Vovayevich, Dear Heads of State!
I am glad to see you all in the hospitable Moscow.
I would like to begin my speech with congratulations. First of all, I congratulate our brotherly peoples on the 77th anniversary of the Great Victory. On May 9, thousands of people marched through Kyrgyzstan in the "Immortal Regiment" under the slogans "Eternal glory to the heroes!" and "No one is forgotten, nothing is forgotten! This holiday of the triumph of the Soviet people over Nazism and fascism is sacredly kept and honored in the Republic, and a profound tribute is always paid to the heroic feat of our grandfathers and fathers.
Secondly, I want to congratulate us on the 30th anniversary of the signing of the Collective Security Treaty and the 20th anniversary of the establishment of the Collective Security Treaty Organization. We fully support the adoption today of a political statement to mark these two historic dates.
International events in recent years confirm the correctness of the above strategic decisions to ensure common and collective security from Brest to Vladivostok.
At the same time, I am pleased to note that over the period of its existence, the Collective Security Treaty Organization has fulfilled its responsible mission, developed institutionally, and strengthened its potential. In this regard, I would like to thank the Secretary General Stanislav Zas, all his predecessors and the staff of the CSTO Secretariat for their dedicated service for the security of the member States.
Dear Colleagues!
The current international situation is not encouraging both from the point of view of global security and the world economy. Security threats and military-political tensions have come close to all borders of the CSTO area of responsibility. There are attempts to interfere in the internal affairs of the CSTO member States.
At the beginning of the year, for example, we had to deal with an unexpected security crisis in a member State. We responded quickly and effectively. I fully support the decision to reward participants in this peacekeeping mission.
The situation on the southern borders of the CSTO remains very alarming, primarily because of the unimpeded activity in some Afghan provinces of radical religious and terrorist structures, whose external sponsors have their far-reaching plans for Central Asia. I believe that the Afghan problematic should remain in the center of our constant attention and analysis. In that direction, it is necessary to implement the whole complex of political, diplomatic and military-technical measures to ensure security. And at the same time it is important to provide humanitarian assistance to the Afghan people, among whom there are our compatriots.
Dear Colleagues!
Our great concern is the war of sanctions. The Kyrgyz economy has not yet recovered from the coronavirus pandemic, but the sanctions situation is already threatening food and energy security, macroeconomic stability, and social stability.
In these circumstances, there is a need to discuss and develop a common approach to mitigate the sanctions and prevent the deterioration of the socio-economic situation in our countries. Such an opportunity will soon arise in the city of Bishkek during a meeting of the Supreme Eurasian Economic Council and the first Eurasian Economic Forum.
Dear colleagues, I look forward to your participation in person at the head of your delegations, which I ask for to include the heads of line ministries and business structures.
In conclusion, I once again congratulate our dear colleagues on the Great Victory Day and the two anniversaries of the Collective Security Treaty.
I sincerely wish you and the friendly peoples of the CSTO member States peace, stability, well-being and prosperity.
Thank you for your attention.
N. Pashinyan: Thank you, Sadir Nurgojoyevich.
I give the floor to the President of the Russian Federation Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin.
Please, Vladimir Vladimirovich.
Speech by the Russian President Vladimir Putin
Dear friends, colleagues!
I agree with the speakers: over the past decades, the Collective Security Treaty Organization has indeed significantly strengthened and acquired well-deserved authority as an effective regional defense structure that ensures security and stability in the Eurasian space and reliably protects the sovereignty and territorial integrity of its member States.
It is very important that interaction within the CSTO has always been built in the spirit of true alliance on the principles of friendship and good-neighborliness, respect for and consideration of each other's interests, and mutual assistance and support. And so it is now, in the current difficult situation.
The CSTO's successful peacekeeping operation in the Republic of Kazakhstan in January of this year at the request of Kazakhstan's leadership was evidence of the maturity of our Organization and its real ability to adequately confront acute challenges and threats.
The contingent of CSTO Collective Forces, introduced for a limited period of time, prevented the seizure of power in the Republic of Kazakhstan by extremists, who were controlled, among other things, from abroad, and helped to quickly stabilize the internal political situation in the Republic.
The use of the Peacekeeping Forces at the request of Kazakhstan's leadership was the first operation of its kind during the existence of the CSTO. It allowed us to identify the strengths of practical cooperation between our military structures and special services and, at the same time, showed us what we still need to work on.
Today we will sign a joint statement in which, taking into account the experience we gained, including during the aforementioned operation, we will confirm the determination of our states to continue to work together as partners in different areas of military and defense construction and to increase coordinated action in the international arena.
At the same time, it is only logical that the task of further improving and optimizing the activities of the CSTO and its governing structures is paramount at this stage. We will also work on equipping the CSTO Collective Forces with modern weapons and equipment, increasing the interoperability of their military contingents, and improving the coordination of joint operations of our military structures and special services.
Relevant issues are constantly being practiced in the course of the CSTO trainings, the practice of which we certainly intend to expand. A whole series of joint trainings of our Organization is planned for this autumn in the Republics of Kazakhstan, Tajikistan and in the Kyrgyz Republic. I am convinced that these events will increase the combat readiness and the level of coordination of the military structures of our states and the overall peacekeeping potential of the CSTO.
We also believe that CSTO efforts should continue to be focused on countering terrorism, drug trafficking, and organized crime. In this area, the law enforcement agencies of our countries have established good co-operation in closing down channels for the recruitment of citizens and neutralizing the resource base of international terrorist organizations.
The issue of biological security also requires the most serious attention. We have long sounded the alarm about U.S. military-biological activity in the former Soviet Union.
As we know, the Pentagon has set up dozens of specialized biolaboratories and centers in our common region, and they are not engaged in providing practical medical care to the populations of the countries wh ere they are deployed. Their main task is to collect biological materials and study for their own purposes the specifics of the spread of viruses and dangerous diseases.
And now, in the course of the special operation in Ukraine, documentary evidence has been obtained that components of biological weapons were in fact created in the immediate vicinity of our borders, in violation of the Biological and Toxin Weapons Convention, and possible methods and mechanisms for destabilizing the epidemiological situation in the post-Soviet space were practiced.
In this regard, we count on our colleagues' support for the rapid implementation of Russia's initiative to launch a specialized council within the CSTO. I would like to stress once again the importance of the closest coordination between the CSTO members in the field of foreign policy, coordinated action in the UN and other multilateral platforms, and the promotion of common approaches to the growing problems of international security.
In this context, we should increase interaction with our natural partners in the Shanghai Cooperation Organization and the Commonwealth of Independent States. By the way, in our opinion, it would be appropriate and correct to grant the CIS a status of Observer at the CSTO.
I will especially emphasize the priority task of working together to defend the memory of the Great Victory in the Great Patriotic War, the feat of our peoples at the cost of enormous and irreplaceable sacrifices that saved the world from Nazism, and to oppose any attempts to whitewash the Nazis, their collaborators and their contemporary followers.
This is extremely important at a time when a number of European countries are barbarically demolishing monuments to the heroes-liberators, prohibiting people from laying flowers at memorials, cynically trying to rewrite history, glorifying murderers and traitors and insulting their victims, erasing the exploits of those who suffered and won the Great Victory.
Unfortunately, in our neighboring country, Ukraine, there has long been frenzy of neo-Nazism, which some of our partners in the so-called collective West turn a blind eye to and thus actually encourage. And all this is accompanied by an unprecedented outburst of rabid Russophobia in so-called civilized and politically correct countries in Western society.
Yes, we hear, and I register this in our conversations, we are told: well, there are extremists everywhere. Yes, it's true: extremists are everywhere, in one way or another they come out of the underground and show themselves. But nowhere, I want to stress this, nowhere at the state level are Nazis glorified – nowhere, and nowhere in civilized countries authorities encouraged to hold thousands of neo-Nazi torch marches with Nazi symbols. This is not done anywhere. Unfortunately, this is happening in Ukraine.
As for the expansion of the North Atlantic Alliance, yes, this is a problem that is created, in my opinion, quite artificially, since it is done in the foreign policy interests of the United States. In general, NATO is being used as an instrument of foreign policy, in essence, by one country, and it is being done quite insistently, skillfully, and quite aggressively. This all exacerbates the already difficult international security environment.
As for expansion, including at the expense of the new members of the alliance - Finland and Sweden: Russia, I would like to inform you, distinguished colleagues, has no problems with these states. In that sense, there is no direct threat to us through expansion at the expense of these countries. But the expansion of the military infrastructure on that territory would certainly cause our response, and we will see what kind of response it would be based on the threats that would be created for us. So, in general, problems are being created out of nowhere. Well, we will respond to it accordingly.
In addition to all this endless expansionary policy, the North Atlantic Alliance is also going beyond its geographical purpose, beyond the Euro-Atlantic, trying more and more actively to get involved in international issues and to control and influence the international security situation, and not in the best way, in other regions of the world. This, of course, requires additional attention from our side.
In conclusion, I would like to reiterate that Russia will continue to make its contribution to the deepening of strategic alliance relations with all CSTO member States. We will do everything possible to improve and develop effective partnership cooperation within the CSTO and, of course, we will support the work of the Armenian Chairmanship-in-Office in this direction.
As for the Russian special military operation in Ukraine, we will certainly discuss it, and I will inform you in detail about what it involves, how this military operation is going, but we will do this, of course, in private.
Thank you for your attention.
http://www.kremlin.ru/events/president/news/68418
Speech by the President of the Republic of Tajikistan Emomali Rakhmon
Dear colleagues!
First of all, I would like to congratulate everyone on the 30th anniversary of the signing of the Collective Security Treaty and the 20th anniversary of the CSTO.
I thank Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin for organizing today's meeting dedicated to these momentous events for all of us. The anniversary dates are a good opportunity to reflect on the path and development of the CSTO and to determine the prospects for our further multilateral cooperation in strengthening the common collective security system, taking into account the new realities.
Over the past period, the CSTO has established itself as an important factor in strengthening peace and ensuring regional security and stability. A clear demonstration of this was the Organization's successful peacekeeping mission at the beginning of this year.
We have established an extensive legal and treaty framework, the necessary working and coordinating bodies, and mechanisms aimed at resolving the Organization's tasks.
In practice, appropriate attention is paid to strengthening and consolidating mutual trust within the CSTO. The CSTO international ties are expanding. Last year, under the Tajik chairmanship, ratification procedures were completed and the CSTO observer and partner institutions were launched.
Field and command-staff trainings are conducted on an ongoing basis, and measures are taken to improve the equipment of the forces and means of the collective security system with modern types of weapons and military equipment. All this contributes to maintaining a high degree of combat readiness, mobility, and the training and skills of command and control personnel in jointly resolving common tasks.
The CSTO today is an important platform for equitable dialogue and cooperation among the member States in all three basic dimensions: political interaction, military cooperation and joint efforts to counter contemporary challenges and threats.
An important document guiding our Organization on its own path of development is the CSTO Collective Security Strategy for the period up to 2025, which reflects the principles of our interaction in the medium term. Our general assessment of the state and prospects of the Organization's development is reflected in a joint statement, which we will adopt at the end of the summit.
Just to point out that today we face no less important tasks in strengthening our common security. Given the multiplication of security challenges and threats, we must step up our joint efforts to strengthen the Organization's capabilities and capacities.
In the example of Afghanistan, we see that over the past four decades, negative factors have accumulated that have contributed to the deterioration of the military-political and socio-economic situation in this country. In this regard, the CSTO needs to be prepared for various scenarios of development of the situation on its southern borders.
The Republic of Tajikistan intends to continue to make an active contribution to ensuring overall security in the Organization's regions of responsibility.
Thank you for your attention.
http://www.president.tj/ru/node/28334
Speech by the Prime Minister of the Republic of Armenia Nikol Pashinyan
First of all, I would like to thank Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin for organizing the CSTO anniversary summit in Moscow and for the warm welcome. Of course, the anniversary of our Organization is also a very good occasion to summarize some results and discuss the prospects of further development of our Organization.
Alexander Grigoryevich [Lukashenko] raised very important questions about interaction between the CSTO member States, and the President of the Republic of Belarus touched on, I must say, quite problematic issues. But, in general, I must say that the history of the CSTO is very positive, because the CSTO has been, is and will be the most important factor in ensuring security and stability in the region.
But as we can already see, in today's anniversary summit we are discussing not only anniversary issues, because the situation in the CSTO area of responsibility is quite tense. I want to touch on some of the issues that the President of Belarus spoke about.
Of course, we have a problem connected with the votes of the member States of our Organization. Often our votes are not very synchronized, but it should be noted that this is not a new issue. It has accompanied our Organization for a long time. The Republic of Armenia has repeatedly raised this issue, we have repeatedly discussed this issue in a working manner. I think it is obvious that this issue also needs further discussion.
As far as interaction and response and rapid response mechanisms are concerned, this is also a very important issue for Armenia, because, as you know, last year, just in these days, the Azerbaijani troops invaded the sovereign territory of the Republic of Armenia. And Armenia asked the CSTO to activate the mechanisms which are stipulated in the CSTO Crisis Response Procedure on December 10, 2010, a document which was approved by the Collective Security Council. But, unfortunately, we can't say that the Organization reacted the way the Republic of Armenia expected.
For a long time, we have been raising the issue of arms sales by the CSTO member States to a country unfriendly to the Republic of Armenia, in which those arms were eventually used against Armenia and the Armenian people. And this is also a problem.
Frankly speaking, the reaction of the CSTO member countries during the 44-day war in 2020 and after the war was not very happy for the Republic of Armenia and the Armenian people in general, but I want to emphasize the special role of the Russian Federation and personally Russian President Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin in stopping the war in Nagorno-Karabakh.
I would like to reiterate that the Republic of Armenia continues to be committed to the trilateral statements of November 9, 2020. I mean the trilateral statements by the President of the Russian Federation, the President of Azerbaijan and the Prime Minister of the Republic of Armenia, as well as the trilateral statements of January 11 and November 26, 2021.
I think summing up is really very important and good, but the Republic of Armenia, as a founding member of the Collective Security Treaty Organization, is committed to the further development of the Organization and considers it a key factor for stability and security in the Eurasian region, as well as for the security of the Republic of Armenia, and has a positive attitude toward supporting the Organization in its full scope in its further development. .
https://www.primeminister.am/ru/press-release/item/2022/05/16/Nikol-Pashinyan-CSTO/
Speech by the CSTO Secretary General Stanislav Zas
First of all, I would like to express my gratitude to you for today's meeting dedicated to the anniversary of the CSTO. Twenty years for an international organization is not that long. But over these years, we have come a long way - from the formation of the idea of collective defense to the established international multifunctional organization.
Therefore, I would like to take this opportunity to congratulate you, dear heads of state, on the anniversary and thank you for your great work in establishing, developing and strengthening our Organization. Because, of course, without your constant attention and support, all this would not have been possible.
On the table in your folders is an analytical review of the CSTO's activities over the 20 years of its existence. This review was prepared by the Secretariat in fulfillment of the assignment of the President of the Republic of Tajikistan. By the way, the work on this review was very interesting and useful. On the eve of such big anniversaries, we have tried to look at the way we have passed, to assess the current state of the CSTO, and there is a stable good feeling that we have something to be proud of.
Within the format of the Organization, a mechanism for the coordination of foreign policy activities is successfully functioning, within the framework of which a consolidated position of our states on topical issues of the regional and global agenda is being formed. Although I agree with Alexander Grigorievich that this is clearly not enough right now. We must not avoid answers, consolidated answers to the most pressing issues.
Interaction with international regional organizations and their specialized structures has been established. The principle of the priority of political and diplomatic means in achieving the CSTO goals has been preserved and, very importantly, cultivated. This is probably one of the main pillars of our Organization.
Over these years we have significantly increased the CSTO's force capacity. The structure, equipment and level of training of command and control bodies and the formation of the collective security system are being improved.
We believe an important achievement of the CSTO is the formation of a unified system for training personnel, command and control bodies, and troops. Of course, the highest form of this system is the comprehensive joint trainings that we hold annually on a planned basis.
An effective mechanism has been created and is being developed to counter contemporary challenges and threats: drug trafficking, illegal migration, international terrorism, and information technology crime. To this end, joint preventive measures and special operations are conducted on a planned basis. Their results testify to their relevance and effectiveness.
The formation of collective instruments to ensure biological security is being completed - this topic was heard today, I think we will return to it.
The CSTO Crisis Response System occupies an important place. It is probably logical that, given the first practical experience we have had in the Republic of Kazakhstan in testing this system, today we will also be looking at improving the Crisis Response System.
Further development of our Organization will take into account your decisions and instructions, including my gratitude for the wishes and instructions expressed today, and on the basis of the implementation plan for the CSTO Collective Security Strategy until 2025.
By the way, next year we need to start preparing the initial data for the development of the new CSTO Collective Security Strategy for the next period, 2026-2030. The time is ripe, and the situation is much different now than it was five years ago. This is also a big job, and it is probably important to combine the analytical component of our states.
Dear Chairman! Distinguished members of the Collective Security Council!
Two documents have been submitted for your consideration and signature: Draft statement of the CSTO Collective Security Council on the occasion of the 30th anniversary of the Collective Security Treaty and the 20th anniversary of the Collective Security Treaty Organization; Draft decision of the Collective Security Council “On conferring CSTO awards on participants of the CSTO peacekeeping operation in the territory of the Republic of Kazakhstan”.
The draft decision provides for the awarding of the most distinguished participants in the peacekeeping operation. Six of our servicemen for their skillful leadership, preparation and conduct of this operation were presented for the award of the CSTO Badge of Honor, first and second degrees, including the commander of our peacekeeping grouping in the Republic of Kazakhstan, Colonel General Andrey Serdyukov, and also a number of servicemen for active participation and selflessness in this operation were presented for the award of the medal "For Strengthening Collective Security".
The documents have undergone the necessary approval procedure, have been approved by the statutory bodies, and are ready to be signed.
I ask you to consider and support these two documents.
Thank you for your attention.
The event was also attended by the CSTO Secretary General Stanislav Zas. He informed the media about the results of the meeting of the leaders:
Dear members of the media,
ladies and gentlemen,
The meeting of the leaders of the CSTO member States dedicated to the 30th anniversary of the signing of the Collective Security Treaty and the 20th anniversary of the establishment of the CSTO has just ended.
I would like to express my gratitude to the Russian side for the excellent organization of the event.
The meeting has discussed the state of international and regional security. They assessed the role and place of our Organization in international relations and defined the prospects for its development.
In the course of the discussion, the heads of states noted that the number of challenges and threats to security, not only in the Organization's area of responsibility, but also in the world as a whole, was steadily growing.
A serious challenge for the CSTO member States has been the sharp increase in the aggressiveness of world powers and military-political blocs against the Russian Federation and its allies.
The military presence of NATO in the Eastern European region is expanding, military infrastructure is growing, and the intensity of operational and combat training activities is increasing. Military expenditures are increasing significantly. New European countries are being drawn into the alliance.
Modern armaments are being supplied to Ukraine in increasing volumes.
Despite positive results in the negotiation process between Armenia and Azerbaijan, tensions remain in the Caucasus region. Armed incidents on the Armenian-Azerbaijani border continue unabated. Under these conditions, an important role in stabilizing the situation is played by the Russian peacekeeping contingent, which ensures the fulfillment of the conditions of the Trilateral Agreements of November 9, 2020.
Afghanistan remains a serious destabilizing factor in the Central Asian region. Threats emanating from Afghan territory, including terrorism and drug trafficking, not only persist, but may become more acute as the socio-economic situation in that country deteriorates.
Thus, dear journalists, unfortunately, the situation along the entire perimeter of the borders of CSTO member States remains tense
Of course, these negative processes are taken into account in our activities. We continue to develop existing collective security systems and peacekeeping capabilities, as well as improving crisis response mechanisms.
As a result of today's meeting, the leaders of the states adopted the STATEMENT of the Collective Security Council of the Collective Security Treaty Organization on the occasion of the 30th anniversary of the Collective Security Treaty and the 20th anniversary of the Collective Security Treaty Organization..
It notes that the choice we made in favor of uniting peacekeeping efforts in the Eurasian space has stood the test of time. The Treaty concluded in 1992 fulfills its main task of ensuring collective security and stability, territorial integrity and sovereignty of its participating States.
The Statement expresses readiness to ensure the security of the borders of the CSTO area of responsibility and expresses concern about the selective application of generally recognized norms and principles of international law, unwillingness to take into account the legitimate interests of sovereign states, interference in their internal affairs, the use of unilateral sanctions and restrictions in violation of the prerogatives of the UN SC, manifestations of double standards.
The document notes that the efforts made to strengthen the Organization and its adaptation to the current geopolitical situation have made it possible to form an effective system of collective security and countering challenges and threats. The CSTO has raised cooperation among the member States to a qualitatively new level of allied relations, has accumulated significant potential to counter a wide range of contemporary challenges and threats, and has become an important factor of peace and stability in the Eurasian space.
I would also like to announce that today the Decision was signed by the Collective Security Council on awarding the most distinguished participants of the CSTO peacekeeping operation on the territory of the Republic of Kazakhstan with the CSTO awards.
In the course of today's meeting of leaders of the CSTO member States a number of instructions were given for our further activities.
Thank you for your attention * *
In 2022, the Republic of Armenia is chairing the Collective Security Treaty Organization.
The Collective Security Treaty (CST) was signed on May 15, 1992, in Tashkent. On May 14, 2002, at the session of the Collective Security Council in Moscow, it was decided to reorganize the mechanisms and cooperation structures of the CST member States into an international regional organization - the “Collective Security Treaty Organization” with relevant status. On September 18, 2003, the CSTO Charter entered into force. The members of the Collective Security Treaty Organization are: the Republic of Armenia, the Republic of Belarus, the Republic of Kazakhstan, the Kyrgyz Republic, the Russian Federation and the Republic of Tajikistan.
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The CSTO Press Secretary Vladimir Zaynetdinov
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E-mail: odkb-pressa@gov.ru
