MINSK, January 23. /TASS/. NATO’s military activities near the borders of the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO), a post-Soviet security bloc, in Eastern Europe in no way help strengthen security, CSTO Secretary General Stanislav Zas said on Sunday.
"In general, the militarization of the Eastern European region near the CSTO borders, the increased military activities in these areas in no way help strengthen the security of all our countries, first of all in the Eastern European region," he said in an interview with the ONT television channel touching upon the topic of the Union Resolve 2022 Russian-Belarusian drills. "A certain source of threats is created. That is why we think it important to reduce tensions, military activities."
He called for looking for "other ways to ensure security."
"We now consider the CSTO as a quite effective instrument to ensure security in the organization’s zone of responsibility. We have the right to use our collective defense forces on the territories of our states," he noted. "And we can deploy our peacekeeping contingents outside our countries only on a United Nations Security Council resolution. But on our territories, within the zone of our responsibility, it is a real instrument of collective security of our states."
The Union Resolve 2022 Belarusian-Russian drills will be held in Belarus from February 10 through 20.