Russian Defense Ministry creating CSTO military bloc crisis response center

Russian Federation dominates the organization, which also includes Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan.

The statements issued by the President of the Republic of Armenia, Serzh Sargsyan, during the CSTO Collective Security Council’s session show that Armenia wants to see a military and political alliance in the face of the CSTO. “This situation requires the strengthening of military power and the collective rapid reaction forces”, RIA Novosti cited him as saying.

The heads of the member states of the CSTO stated that their organisation could now deploy under the auspices of the UNO, in the same way as NATO. “A growing level of extremism, the influence of worldwide terrorist groups arouse concern. This requires effective counteractive measures on our side”, Nursultan Nazarbayev said.

“This work should be continued on the system basis with a clear focus on mid-run period”, the president said.

The Director of the Analytical Center of the Institute of global Studies, Andrey Kazantsev, stressed that Vladimir Putin had in mind the need to unite in the fight against terrorism in Central Asia, which is represented not only by Islamic State, but also other extremist Islamist organizations.

Fayzulloev said Tajikistan inherited old border posts, technical equipment, vehicles, weapons, and other equipment – much of which is decades old and is now obsolete. The member-countries agreed that imposure of sanctions in circumvention of the United Nations was unacceptable, reiterated their support to the Non-Proliferation Treaty and welcomed the recent settlement of the Iranian nuclear program issue.

According to Alexander Lukashenko, all member states have to deal with common risks and threats.