MINSK, June 17. /TASS/. Belarus believes the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO), a post-Soviet security bloc, needs to strengthen its military component, the country’s Defense Minister Andrey Ravkov said in an interview with TASS on Wednesday.
The participation of Belarus in the organization "answers to national interests and contributes to strengthening and developing cooperation in the postmilitary and military and technical spheres" with its member-states, the minister said.
"While prioritizing the political means of achieving the goals of strengthening peace, we believe it is necessary to further enhance, develop and improve the military component of the CSTO," Ravkov said.
Belarus is ready to further participate in upgrading the legal basis defining the strategic priorities of the organization’s activity in the sphere of ensuring collective security, forming and developing coalition and regional force groupings and also allied military systems and peacekeeping forces, he said.
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According to Ravkov, the CSTO continues being transformed into a multifunctional security structure.
"The organization has gained an adequate potential of containing military threats and in our opinion, it has become a unique tool capable of ensuring stability and security in the zone of its responsibility," he said.
The Belarusian servicemen take part in all the training activities as part of the CSTO, and most recently during the rapid reaction force exercise in Tajikistan in May, he said.
The Collective Security Treaty Organization comprises Russia, Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan.