On July 15, 2026, the High-Level Regional Meeting “Enhancing Capacities to Prevent the Supply of Weapons to Terrorists in Central Asia” was held in Moscow, organized by the United Nations Office of Counter-Terrorism with the participation of the Russian side.
On July 14, 2026, a working meeting was held at the CSTO Secretariat between CSTO Deputy Secretary General Valery Semerikov and UN Assistant Secretary-General Alexander Zuev.
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.
Electronic warfare issues discussed by the Working Group under the CSTO Council of Defense Ministers
17.06.2026
On June 17, a regular meeting of the Working Group on Electronic Warfare under the CSTO Council of Defense Ministers was held in Saint Petersburg, Russian Federation.
The event was chaired by Colonel General Yury Lastochkin, Chief of the Electronic Warfare Troops of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation. It was attended by representatives of the defense ministries of the Republic of Belarus, the Republic of Kazakhstan, the Kyrgyz Republic, the Russian Federation, and the Republic of Tajikistan, as well as a group of officers from the CSTO Joint Staff headed by Lieutenant General Anatoly Yakovlev, Deputy Head of the CSTO Troops (Collective Forces) Employment Planning Center.
In his video address to the participants, Chief of the CSTO Joint Staff Colonel General Andrey Serdyukov noted that the experience of contemporary armed conflicts, including the special military operation, confirms the need for the effective organization and conduct of electronic warfare in support of missions carried out by military groupings. He emphasized that this issue is of particular importance in the context of the joint employment of electronic warfare assets within the CSTO Collective Forces. Equally important are the development of a joint interstate electronic warfare system, the equipping of the armed forces of the CSTO member states with modern weapon systems, and the training of qualified specialists.
During the meeting, participants discussed issues related to improving the CSTO regulatory and legal framework in the field of electronic warfare, conducting joint training activities involving electronic warfare units of the CSTO Troops (Collective Forces), and the experience of employing electronic warfare assets of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation in modern armed conflicts. They also considered approaches to shaping the structure and legal foundation of a Joint (Unified) Electronic Warfare System of the armed forces of the CSTO member states.
