The Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) Permanent Council has endorsed the plan of action for implementation of the concept of the development of a system of joint training of military personnel for the period to 2020.
A meeting of the CSTO Permanent Council was held on January 18, according to the CSTO Secretariat.
The meeting participants included the CSTO Deputy General Secretary Valery Semerikov, senior representatives of the CSTO Secretariat divisions as well as representatives of the CSTO Joint Staff.
They discussed a draft plan of actions for implementation of decisions adopted at the November session of the CSTO Collective Security Council and priorities of the Organization activities for this year.
The meeting participants reportedly also finalized the draft roadmap “Formation of Conditions for fro Use of the CSTO Peacekeeping Potential in the Interest of the UN Global Peacekeeping Activity for the period from 2018 to 2020.”
The document is expected to be discussed at the next meeting of the CSTO Permanent Council, according to the CSTO Secretariat.
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.
