ST. PETERSBURG, December 26. /TASS/. The number of hotbeds of tension is not decreasing in the world, with poor efforts being taken to resolve decades-old conflicts, Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Monday.

"We know how uneasy the situation in many regions of the world is. The number of hotbeds of tension is not going down and decades-old conflicts are not resolved to the scope we would like. For instance, the problem of Afghanistan, the problems of the Middle East, Syria and others," he said, opening a session of the Collective Security Council of the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO).

He noted that the CSTO member countries are worried over these factors. Today’s meeting in the format of a non-official exchange of opinions is a good opportunity to discuss the situation in the sphere of security of the CSTO member countries, to speak about what is going on in the world, Putin said.

"Dialogues on issues of major interest for us continue permanently, but the number of problems is not decreasing. Anyway, it gives us the opportunity to be in the know of what is going on in any of those trouble spots and to react to threats emanating from around our countries," the Russian leader said.