Putin Chairs CSTO Collective Security Council Meeting in Moscow

Dragon Media News Desk

Russian President Vladimir Putin chaired a meeting of the Collective Security Council of the Collective Security Treaty Organisation (CSTO) at the Grand Kremlin Palace in Moscow on November 11. A package of documents, including the Council’s declaration, was signed after the meeting.

Putin said the leaders had held a detailed and productive discussion in a restricted format on pressing global and regional security issues. He said they had reached a shared understanding on nearly all the issues discussed and reaffirmed their commitment to joint efforts against challenges and threats to collective security.

Putin said Council members had positively assessed Russia’s CSTO chairmanship in 2026. Russia had hosted more than 100 events across key areas of cooperation and coordinated efforts to advance shared positions at the United Nations and other multilateral forums, he said.

The draft declaration, Putin said, reflected the member states’ shared views on the global and regional situation and their priorities for the CSTO’s future development.

He said the organisation continued to focus on improving the operational and combat readiness of its collective forces. Major joint exercises were held in Belarus, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan and Russia. In the Chelyabinsk region, the CSTO Collective Rapid Reaction Forces conducted the Interaction 2026 exercise alongside Russia’s Centre-2026 strategic command post exercise, he said.

Putin said efforts were also continuing to equip the collective forces with modern weapons and equipment. He said the Council was due to consider decisions on their further development, including their aviation component and the creation of mobile air-defence units for joint military operations.

Cooperation among member states’ security agencies, law-enforcement bodies and other services had strengthened coordination against terrorism, extremism, illicit drugs and trafficking, and illegal migration, Putin said. The member states had also monitored the situation in Afghanistan as part of efforts to improve security along the organisation’s external borders. He said cooperation on biological safety and preventing the spread of dangerous infections had also advanced.

Putin said 2027 would mark 35 years since the signing of the Collective Security Treaty and 25 years since the CSTO’s establishment. Tajikistan, which is due to assume the organisation’s chairmanship, would have the task of reviewing the members’ longstanding cooperation and setting strategic priorities for its future development, he said. CSTO member states would provide Tajikistan with the necessary support, Putin added.