Meeting of the Council of Defence Ministers of the CSTO Member States
A meeting of the Council of Defence Ministers of the member states of the Collective Security Treaty Organisation was held in Moscow.
Participants of the meeting of the Council of Ministers of Defence of the CSTO member states laid flowers at the “Mothers of the Victors” monument in the Patriot Park.
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During an exchange of views on challenges and threats to military security in the Organisation’s collective security regions, Defence Minister of the Republic of Belarus Lieutenant General Viktor Khrenin made a report.
The head of the Belarusian Defence Ministry noted that since last year’s joint meeting, the situation in the Organisation’s area of responsibility has not improved. In addition, due to the situation in Iran, new security risks have emerged in the Central Asian region.
Lieutenant General Viktor Khrenin also expressed concern that the border conflict between Afghanistan and Pakistan could trigger a humanitarian crisis and migration flows, potentially spreading extremist ideologies and terrorist organisations to the territory of CSTO countries.
Focusing on the development of the military-political situation in the Eastern European region, the Defence Minister noted that it is characterised by an extremely dangerous strengthening of negative trends and a complete lack of interest on the part of the countries of the collective West in building a multipolar world based on the principles of taking into account the interests of other states and the indivisibility of security:
“The Republic of Belarus has repeatedly informed its CSTO allies about the large-scale re-equipment of European armies, the build-up of capabilities for transferring coalition troops to NATO’s eastern border, and the maintenance of a forward military presence in Poland and the Baltic states.
Today around 21,000 military personnel are deployed on the territory of the above-mentioned states, involved in operations of the US Armed Forces and NATO’s Allied Armed Forces to reinforce the alliance’s “eastern flank”.
Against the backdrop of US President Donald Trump’s statement on reducing the contingent in Germany, Poland is holding talks with the Pentagon on expanding the American military presence on its territory. Similar interest has been indicated by the leadership of Latvia and Lithuania.
As part of numerous operational and combat training activities the troops of the North Atlantic Alliance continue to practice the entire range of issues: from deployment to the eastern flank to the direct conduct of offensive operations by the created groups of forces against Russia and Belarus.
The total annual military expenditure of NATO member states has reached a record amount of more than 1.6 trillion dollars and continues to grow. Western political elites and the defence corporations associated with them view war as a guarantee of internal consolidation and stable profits. This means that they will not abandon this form of resolving interstate contradictions.
It is no coincidence that the message about the need to be ready in the near future for a military conflict with our CSTO ally, the Russian Federation. It has formed the basis of doctrinal documents in the field of security, defence and foreign policy adopted in the United States, the United Kingdom, Germany, France and a number of other European states.
Assessing the current situation in the Eastern European region, we state that the probability of unleashing a military conflict against the Russian Federation and the Republic of Belarus, which are members of the CSTO, as well as the possibility of its subsequent transformation from a regional conflict into a global one, is extremely high.
This and other challenges facing our Organisation require unconditional consolidation, a high speed of decision-making, and the ability to act as a single organism.
It is difficult to imagine what the security situation in the Organization’s area would be like if our countries had not preserved close cooperation and continued to develop it in accordance with the changing situation”.
The Defence Minister called for active representation of all participating states at operational and combat training events of the CSTO Collective Forces and noted the need to strengthen cooperation with third countries and other organisations that share the CSTO’s principles and approaches in the field of ensuring international security.
“We are capable not only of ensuring an appropriate response to modern challenges and threats, but also of becoming a driving force in the process of forming a new architecture of international security, the demand for which has matured in Eurasia”, the Defence Minister expressed confidence.
Lieutenant General Viktor Khrenin also invited representatives of the Organization’s states to take part in the 8th International Military-Scientific Conference, which will be held on November 19–20 in Minsk.
