MINSK, July 13. /TASS/. All member states of the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) have the capacity to counter biosecurity threats, Anna Popova, Russia’s chief public health official and chair of the Coordination Council of CSTO bodies on biological security issues, said at a meeting of the council in Minsk, Belarus, on Thursday.
"Russia and all other CSTO member states have the necessary potential to confront such challenges, and, most importantly, currently enjoy biological sovereignty," the BelTA news agency quoted Popova as saying.
"Russia continues its special military operation in Ukraine, exposing evidence of Western countries' highly hazardous, multi-year activities right near our borders involving research on dangerous pathogens for the purpose of creating biological weapons. We have repeatedly highlighted these facts to the international community via diverse international platforms, including the UN Security Council," she noted. "Clearly, in a bid to preserve its hegemony, the West will stop at nothing to obtain control over the lands and resources that Russia and other Eurasian countries enjoy a wealth of. "Various methods are being employed to achieve this goal, including attempts to inspire coups and riots, as evidenced by recent developments in Belarus and Kazakhstan. In such a situation, it’s crucial to ensure our collective readiness to face threats, including those of a biological nature, both occurring naturally and man-made," the Coordination Council chair pointed out.
The council was established in September 2021 by decision of the CSTO Committee of Security Council Secretaries. Its purview is the coordination of activities and cooperation aimed at preventing and countering biological threats, as well as the creation of a reliable system for ensuring the biological security of CSTO member states. Apart from Belarus, which is presiding over the CSTO in 2023, the organization also includes Russia, Armenia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan.