MOSCOW, February 12. /TASS/. As part of its chairmanship of the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) in 2026, Russia will seek to increase the combat potential of the organization’s national contingents and equip them with modern weapons systems, Colonel General Andrey Serdyukov, Chief of the CSTO Joint Staff, told a briefing.
"Over the course of the year, a large number of equally important and complex tasks must be accomplished. At the same time, the main efforts will be focused on implementing the priority areas of activity declared by the Russian Federation for its chairmanship of the organization, which is taking place under the motto announced by the Russian President: Collective Security in a Multipolar World: Common Goal, Shared Responsibility," he noted.
According to Serdyukov, the important tasks for improving the CSTO's military component, as outlined by Russian President Vladimir Putin, are: building up the national contingents’ combat potential and equipping them with modern weapons systems; optimizing procedures for the rapid deployment of coalition forces; developing the air component and air-defense capabilities within the CSTO; and improving the command and control of the Collective Forces grouping.
"As part of the fulfilment of these priority tasks, relevant joint work with CSTO member states has been planned and organized. Taking into account existing and projected challenges and threats to collective security, I consider the quality organization and effective implementation of joint training events to be one of the top priorities," the Chief of CSTO Joint Staff added.
On January 1, Russia took over the CSTO chairmanship from Kyrgyzstan.