The next session of the Collective Security Council of the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) that will take place in the Belarusian capital, Minsk, on November 30 will discuss more than twenty issues.
The Collective Security Council comprises the heads of state of Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, and Tajikistan.
According to the CSTO Secretariat, the Collective Security Council session will be held in a restricted format in a form of plenary session.
CSTO Secretary-General Yuri Khachaturov will participate in the session that will discuss the development trends of the international situation and the measures taken to strengthen the collective security of the Organization.
The CSTO heads of state are expected to adopt the CSTO Declaration on the 25th anniversary of the Collective Security Treaty and the 15th anniversary of the Collective Security Treaty Organization,
The session participants are also expected to discuss the draft decision on the implementation of the CSTO collective security strategy Organization through 2025.
CSTO Secretary-General Yuri Khachaturov will deliver a statement on the CSTO performance in 2016-2017 and on the status of implementation of the decisions taken at the previous session of the Collective Security Council.
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.
