CSTO acts as guarantor of stability and security for member states, says Russia’s Foreign Ministry

The Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) serves as a guarantor of the stability and security of its member states. The accumulated experience makes it a key element of the new architecture of equal and indivisible security forming in Eurasia, Russia’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in connection with the anniversary of the signing of the Collective Security Treaty.

“Today, the organization acts as a guarantor of stability and security for its member states—Russia, Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, and Tajikistan. Thanks to joint efforts of the allies, systemic measures are being taken to further develop the organization’s potential,” reads the statement.

The Russian Foreign Ministry added that coordination of foreign policy among CSTO member states continues to expand, and practical cooperation is being strengthened in the fight against international terrorism and extremism, illegal trafficking of drugs and weapons, organized international crime, and illegal migration.

The diplomatic agency reminded that one of the main issues for CSTO member states is to increase the combat readiness of the organization’s collective forces, including “taking into account the advanced experience of the Russian armed forces.”

“The prospects for further development of allied cooperation within the organization, strengthening its potential, and improving the effectiveness of measures to mitigate threats and challenges to the security of member states will be thoroughly discussed at upcoming sessions of the CSTO Defense Ministers’ Council, the Security Council Secretaries Committee, and the Foreign Ministers’ Council—scheduled to be held in Kyrgyzstan during May-June,” the statement concluded.