MOSCOW, September 28. /TASS/. Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a bill that ratifies the agreement on joint material and medical provision for forces under the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO), which was published on Russia’s official website for legal information.

The agreement, which had been signed in Dushanbe, Tajikistan, on September 16, 2021, is aimed at improving the legal regulation of material and medical provisions for CSTO forces.

Under the agreement, the parties will execute a coordinated military-technical policy for providing modern weapons, of either uniform or compatible types, and military and special vehicles to CSTO forces. CSTO battlegroups are being provided with weapons, vehicles and material resources at the expense of member states’ own funds, as well as funds allocated under intergovernmental programs and aid that member states can provide each other on a mutual basis. Common approaches to organizing such provisioning are to be determined by the Council of Defense Ministers and the Committee of Secretaries of CSTO Security Councils.

The agreement also covers certain issues of medical provision for CSTO forces. For example, it stipulates that medical aid for injured and sick servicemen will be provided by medical units of CSTO member states’ defense ministries, or, in the absence thereof, by medical organizations regardless of which agency they are subordinate to.

The accompanying materials state that Russia is ratifying this agreement with two caveats. The first is that when CSTO forces are deployed on Russian territory, medical aid to servicemen must be provided by medical organizations under the Russian Defense Ministry. According to the second caveat, if no Defense Ministry medical organizations are present in a given region of Russia, medical aid will then be provided by medical agencies of the home countries of the relevant CSTO units.