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| Caucasus/Russia/Central Asia |
| CSTO summit: what was agreed on |
| 2021-09-18 |
| Direct Translation via Google Translate. Edited. By Elena Panina [REGNUM] On September 16 this year, a session of the Council of the Collective Security Treaty Organization was held in Dushanbe under the chairmanship of President of Tajikistan Emomali Rahmon. As expected, it came out difficult. The internal political crisis in Afghanistan, including the one caused by the flight of the United States, fundamentally changed the conditions for the further existence of the CSTO. For the first time in two decades, the participants were required to fulfill their obligations and adhere to the principles underlying the very concept of collective security. The fact that the overwhelming majority of the session was held in a closed regime for journalists indicates the magnitude of the difficulties and discrepancies that have arisen. However, judging by the well-known results, it was still possible to overcome a significant part of the disagreements. As a result of the work, the parties signed 14 final documents, of which at least six indicate the deepening of integration and the gradual transfer of the CSTO from a purely political to a collective defensive status. Although it is too early to talk about complete success, however: - an agreement on joint material, technical and medical support of the collective forces of the CSTO. - a plan for equipping them with modern weapons, military and special equipment, special means. - decision on the scheme of a secure multiservice communication network of the CSTO. - the decision on the chief of the Joint Staff. - decision on the composition of military contingents and the formation of special forces of the Collective Rapid Reaction Forces point to the gradual creation of real military instruments of a collective nature and the structure of their practical use. What can be considered an undoubted success on the way to modernizing the mechanism of the Organization. In addition, two other fundamental points should be considered positive. First, the parties agreed on the need for collective participation in the solution of the task of strengthening the Tajik-Afghan border, which has a length of 1,344 km and in many sections passes through hard-to-reach mountainous terrain. However, so far this agreement is of the most general nature. Tajikistan introduced a certain package of proposals, formalized in the form of a draft Interstate Target Program, which the other participants agreed to "consider and accept as quickly as possible." Secondly, the CSTO members approved a plan for holding a series of military exercises of the Collective Forces in Tajikistan: Search-2021, Echelon-2021, Interaction-2021 and Cobalt-2021, organized according to a single operational concept. The first of which is scheduled for October. Although the amount of forces and means involved for its implementation is still unknown, but it is unlikely to be very large. Nevertheless, this will already serve as a significant help in strengthening the security of the Tajik border with Afghanistan. And most importantly, at the last session it was possible to come up with a mechanism for integrating the CSTO into the UN international security system. A Protocol on Amendments to the Agreement on Peacekeeping Activities of the Collective Security Treaty Organization of October 6, 2007 was signed. These changes provide for the possibility of using the CSTO Peacekeeping Forces in peacekeeping operations under the auspices of the UN through the "coordinating CSTO member state." Translated into Russian, this opens the CSTO the opportunity to form collective peacekeeping forces not only on behalf of a regional state (and the CSTO is primarily a regional treaty), but also on behalf of the United Nations. Thus, the channel of Western intervention in the Central Asian region is cut off, allegedly on behalf of "the entire international community." Summarizing the above, the CSTO summit that took place can be considered generally successful. However, much remains to be done to transform the Organization into a truly effective collective defense mechanism. Elena Panina is Director of the RUSSTRAT Institute |
| Posted by:badanov |