MOSCOW, January 20. /TASS/. The role of the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) as a key security structure in the region will keep growing, and the demand for its efforts will also keep growing against the background of global instability, Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova told a briefing on Thursday.
"In practice, the CSTO is getting stronger and stronger as the key structure for ensuring security and stability in the region of its responsibility. It is obvious that the role of and the demand for the efforts of the CSTO will be growing amid the persisting global instability, and escalation of regional conflicts," the Russian diplomat said.
The organization demonstrated its ability to act quickly, resolutely and strictly within a legal framework during the crisis in Kazakhstan, she stressed. "The experience of the CSTO is strongly in demand, it will be analyzed thoroughly, first of all with an aim to step up allies’ efforts towards joint action against attempts of foreign destructive interference in the organization’s zone of responsibility," Zakharova noted.
On January 2, protests sparked in several cities in Kazakhstan, evolving into mass riots and pogroms over several days. They were accompanied by attacks on policemen, servicemen and government facilities in many cities, mostly in Almaty. Following a request by President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev, CSTO states sent their peacekeepers to the republic. According to the authorities, constitutional order was restored in all regions on January 7.