DUSHANBE, December 24, 2014, Asia-Plus – A meeting of the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) Collective Security Council that took place in Moscow on December 23 reportedly resulted in signing of 22 documents, including a joint statement of the CSTO heads of state, 19 resolutions and two protocols.
In their joint statement the CSTO heads of state voiced concern over the growing danger of terrorism and the spread of extremism in Central Asia, including the Afghan factor, and emphasized the need for restoring peace in Ukraine and achieving a peace settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh problem.
The CSTO Collective Security Council adopted resolutions on checking the readiness of the CSTO collective rapid reaction force for coping with their routine tasks and missions, on establishing collective air force, anti-drug strategy and plans for measures to implement guidelines for collective response to emergencies.
The CSTO Collective Security Council also adopted a resolution on the consultative and coordinating center of the CSTO for response to computer incidents. One of the protocols concerns “resistance to criminal activities in the information sphere.” There are plans for carrying out the CSTO’s operation for resistance to crime in the sphere of information.
The regional security organization was initially set up in 1992 in a meeting in Tashkent and Uzbekistan once already suspended its membership in 1999. However, Tashkent returned to the CSTO again in 2006 The regional security organization was initially formed in 1992 for a five-year period by the members of the CIS Collective Security Treaty (CST) — Armenia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan, which were joined by Azerbaijan, Georgia, and Belarus the following year. A 1994 treaty reaffirmed the desire of all participating states to abstain from the use or threat of force, and prevented signatories from joining any “other military alliances or other groups of states” directed against members states. The CST was then extended for another five-year term in April 1999, and was signed by the presidents of Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, and Tajikistan. In October 2002, the group was renamed as the CSTO. Uzbekistan that suspended its membership in 1999 returned to the CSTO again in 2006 after it came under international criticism for its brutal crackdown of antigovernment demonstrations in the eastern city of Andijon in May 2005. On June 28, 2012, Uzbekistan announced that it has suspended its membership of the CSTO, saying the organization ignores Uzbekistan and does not consider its views. The CSTO is currently an observer organization at the United Nations General Assembly.
