MINSK, November 23. /TASS/. The Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) has entered a new stage of its development and is undergoing modernization and the need for its peacekeeping potential will grow, CSTO Secretary General Imangali Tasmagambetov said on Thursday.
"Our organization has entered a new stage of its development. Considering the complex geopolitical situation in the world, the need for functionality is growing. While responding to new challenges and threats, the organization is developing further and undergoing modernization," the organization’s chief said.
"The CSTO is a military-political organization and simultaneously we are a part of global security… We believe that the CSTO’s peacekeeping potential will eventually be highly needed," he said.
This year, the post-Soviet security bloc conducted "two very important, large-scale exercises," the CSTO chief said.
"Under the next year program, we will conduct drills in Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan," he specified.
Chief of the CSTO Joint Staff Colonel-General Anatoly Sidorov said on November 16 that the post-Soviet security bloc was set to conduct drills with the emphasis on the Central Asian region next year, with military exercises expected in Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan and Tajikistan.
"The 2024 plan [of military exercises] makes emphasis on the Central Asian collective security region. In particular, we are planning drills with the CSTO Collective Operational Response Forces in Kyrgyzstan, the Peacekeeping Forces in Kazakhstan and the Collective Rapid Reaction Forces of the Central Asian region in Tajikistan," the general said.