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Belarusian defense ministry does not rule out expansion of post-Soviet security bloc

According to the Belarusian defense minister, threats and challenges to the CSTO countries are changing

MINSK, May 15. /TASS/. The Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO), a post-Soviet Russia-led security bloc, will continue to develop, with more states joining it, Belarusian Defense Minister Viktor Khrenin said in an interview with Sunday’s issues of the Belarusskaya Voyennaya Gazeta (Belarusian Military Newspaper).

"I think that the organization will expand. We will soon see how the world order is changed but the CSTO has demonstrated its combat readiness its peaceful nature and I think that it will have more than six countries in several years. It will embrace dozens of countries which value peace and stability rather than aggressiveness and policies of changing political systems in other countries," he said.

According to the Belarusian defense minister, threats and challenges to the CSTO countries are changing. "Naturally, I don’t think that color revolutions will be gone for good, that there will be no terrorism and drug and human trafficking, and biological threats. The organization will develop amid these challenges," he added.

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