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Coronavirus pandemic

Pandemic reduced level of international security cooperation, says post-Soviet bloc chief

The deterioration in the economic sphere and the decline in the living standards of millions of people around the planet as a result of lockdown measures "create additional possibilities for recruiting new recruits" using various technologies, he pointed out

MINSK, November 18. /TASS/. The problems caused by the coronavirus pandemic reduced the level of international security cooperation, Secretary General of the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) Stanislav Zas said at a meeting of the heads of the security councils from the CIS member states held via a video conference on Wednesday.

"The problems caused by the pandemic, which lowered the level of international cooperation in the sphere of security, ultimately affected the efficiency of measures for countering present-day challenges and threats, including terrorism," the news agency BelTA quoted the CSTO chief as saying.

The deterioration in the economic sphere and the decline in the living standards of millions of people around the planet as a result of lockdown measures "create additional possibilities for recruiting new recruits" using various modern information and communications technologies, Zas pointed out.

The international community is experiencing an acute shortage of trust and stability, the CSTO chief stressed.

The developments in the area of the CSTO collective security prompt the need for constantly developing the mechanisms of inter-state cooperation in countering present-day challenges and threats, he noted.

The CSTO chief backed the idea of synchronizing anti-terror measures within the formats of the CIS, the CSTO and the SCO (Shanghai Cooperation Organization) put forward by Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov at a meeting of the Council of Foreign Ministers from the CSTO member states held in May.

"We are now collecting proposals on the practical implementation of this process," the SCTO chief said.

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