MINSK, June 20. /TASS/. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov will take part in a meeting of the Collective Security Treaty Organization’s (CSTO) Council of Foreign Ministers in the Belarusian capital of Minsk on Tuesday.
According to the Russian Foreign Ministry, participants in the meeting will assess multilateral cooperation within the CSTO and exchange views on the prospects for future interaction. They will also discuss the current international and regional situation and its impact on the security of the organization’s member states, as well as the future steps to boost the CSTO’s external ties.
A number of joint documents is expected to be approved at the meeting.
The CSTO brings together Armenia, Belarus (who is presiding over the organization in 2023), Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia and Tajikistan.
The parties will definitely take note of Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko’s idea of the need for the CSTO nations to consider a 2035 collective security concept. According to him, the need stems from the fact that the current document was adopted in 2016 and will expire in 2025. Lukashenko believes that the CSTO should start working on approaches to and proposals concerning Eurasia’s future security architecture.
The parties will certainly discuss the situation around Ukraine. Russian Security Council Secretary Nikolay Patrushev said earlier that it was necessary to demilitarize Ukraine because it posed a threat both to Russia and other CSTO members, particularly in terms of the use of nuclear weapons. Lavrov, in turn, emphasized that anything could be expected from Western leaders. In particular, the West has expressed readiness to send F-16 fighter jets to Kiev.
It was announced in March that Russia would deploy its tactical nuclear weapons to Belarus based on Minsk’s request, similar to what the US has been doing on the territories of its allies. Minsk stressed that the deployment of Russian nuclear weapons should be viewed as a response to the West’s unfriendly steps.
In addition, Afghanistan also remains a hotbed of instability. Russian Defense Minister Sergey Shoigu pointed out earlier that Washington intended to use illegal armed groups active in Afghanistan to destabilize the situation in the region. CSTO Secretary General Imangali Tasmagambetov, in turn, pointed to the threat of extremist ideas and terrorist groups infiltrating CSTO member states. Besides, the organization’s secretary general mentioned ongoing tensions in the Caucasus as a result of contradictions between Armenia and Azerbaijan.