The CSTO Security Council secretaries discussed in Tajikistan the issues of equipping the CSTO collective rapid reaction forces with modern weapons, the prospects for cooperation between the CSTO and the CIS and the SCO. And also the topic of the Afghan settlement. The meeting of the Security Council secretaries began on April 29 with a meeting with the President of Tajikistan Emomali Rahmon.
"Nikolai Platonovich, I am glad to welcome you to sunny Tajikistan," Emomali Rahmon said when they greeted Nikolai Patrushev. Indeed, after a cool Moscow, Dushanbe met the CSTO Security Council secretaries with an unexpected 35-degree heat. However, this did not affect the course of bilateral and multilateral negotiations and meetings that lasted for two days.
Among the main topics are challenges and threats to the national security of Russia, Tajikistan, Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan and measures to neutralize them. As the Secretary of the Russian Security Council noted, for the CSTO, the development of the situation in Afghanistan and the elimination of threats emanating from its territory has been one of the priority areas of activity for several years. At the same time, Russia supports the efforts of all interested States to stabilize the situation in Afghanistan. And here the role of regional countries is very important. "During the 20 years of the Americans' stay in Afghanistan, the situation has only changed for the worse, " Patrushev said.
In general, according to the Secretary of the Russian Security Council, the situation in this country remains difficult. For example, in northern Afghanistan, the Taliban hold important areas in the provinces bordering Tajikistan. They are also increasing their influence in the previously relatively quiet Balkh province, which borders Uzbekistan. In addition, they have gained a foothold on some key routes in the north of Afghanistan. The unstable situation is observed in Kabul, where terrorist attacks occur almost daily, most often by blowing up police cars. Government forces are also suffering significant losses. This, in particular, according to Patrushev, indicates the low level of training and equipment of the Afghan national security forces, for which the NATO Resolute Support mission is directly responsible.
Other topics discussed by the CSTO Security Council secretaries included the epidemiological situation in the world. According to Patrushev, the situation in the international arena remains difficult and tense. One of the most pressing challenges is the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. "At the same time, we can say with confidence that our states are adequately overcoming this difficult period," the Secretary of the Security Council of the Russian Federation said.
In addition to the pandemic, special attention was paid to the issues of countering color revolutions and external interference in the internal affairs of the CSTO states. For the first time, a new trend was also announced - to identify and suppress illegal channels of financing of opposition organizations.
According to Nikolai Patrushev, the main perpetrators of the color revolutions are still non-governmental organizations controlled by Washington, the media and opposition leaders. In particular, an important element of countering color revolutions is the identification and suppression of illegal channels of financing of opposition organizations. The Secretary of the Russian Security Council also drew the attention of his colleagues to the steady increase in the number of challenges and threats to information security. And this state of affairs is primarily due to the growing aspirations of the United States and its allies to ensure complete dominance in the information space. And also to dictate to the whole world its own rules for regulating the sphere of IT technologies, regardless of the opinion of sovereign states.
Following the meetings, Nikolai Patrushev also called on his CSTO colleagues to speed up the work on creating a single list of organizations recognized as terrorist in the CSTO format.
Ivan Yegorov (Dushanbe)
