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Author : V. Semerikov
Deputy Secretary General of the Collective Security Treaty Organization
THIS YEAR, the Collective Security Treaty Organ-
ization (CSTO) has marked two jubilees - the 25th
anniversary of the Collective Security Treaty and
the 15th anniversary of the organization itself. The
CSTO is an effective mechanism that not only guar-
antees security to the organization's member coun-
tries but also plays a serious role in maintaining
peace and stability in its region. The CSTO member
states have developed close mutual relations that en-
able them to take effective joint action to defuse international tensions, prevent instability in in-
dividual regions, and stop existing conflicts from escalating.
After signing the treaty, the member states launched intensive work drawing up agreements on
military, political, and military-technological cooperation, and on political coordination.
Meetings of the CSTO Council of Foreign Ministers and working meetings of member states'
foreign ministers involve debates on key points of international security and stability and result
in initiatives on a wide range of problems. Since 2011, the CSTO system has included a mech-
anism of Collective Instructions to representatives of member countries in international organ-
izations. The purposes of this mechanism are to formulate common principles on indivisible
security, sovereign equality and territorial integrity of states, respect for their independence, and
non-interference in their internal affairs; joint measures should be also taken in principal inter-
national organizations to prevent distortions and revisions of the results of World War II. The
Collective Instructions mechanism underwent one of its regular updates in July 2016.
The CSTO continually revises its crisis reaction system. The Crisis Reaction Center, set up by
the heads of state of the CSTO member countries under a decision of October 14, 2016, is an
agency for providing CSTO governing bodies with information, analytical, organizational, and
technical services required for crisis reaction measures.
The Coordination Council of Heads of Competent Bodies of CSTO Member States on Com-
bating Illegal Drug Trafficking, an auxiliary CSTO body, manages a permanent regional anti-
drug trafficking operation codenamed Kanal, whose participants are drug control police, border
guards, customs, security agencies and financial intelligence officers of member states.
In a statement issued on October 14, 2016, the heads of state of the CSTO member countries
pledged to continue intensive efforts to develop our organization, make it more effective, and
modernize its collective security system, which is seen as the chief instrument of maintaining
peace and stability in the member states and the main guarantee of their independence and sov-
ereignty.
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The Collective Security Treaty Organization: Moving From the
Treaty to the Organization