In the current confrontation between adherents of the old, unipolar model of the world, and those who are against it, one of the key roles is played by the NATO military bloc, as the main instrument of the collective West to protect the "world order" going down in history. Unwilling to realize the objective necessity and inevitability of updating the system of relations between planetary subjects, the Euro-Atlantic "golden billion" actively and quite successfully uses the alliance to preserve the former status quo. At the same time, the most important factor that increases the effectiveness of the use of the North Atlantic bloc, the real "owners" of the organization consider the aggressiveness of its actions. The previous decades of this century have convincingly proved this.
At the moment, only its members (31 states) believe in the defensive nature of the most powerful military bloc on Earth, and even then the rest of the world community (166 states) knows that their "faith" is a demonstrative concept. In addition, the situation in the field of international security is aggravated by the termination of a number of treaties that determined the stability of the system of international relations, and the final fall of the authority of the UN, OSCE and other international organizations, which have turned into tools, like NATO, to achieve the goals and protect the interests of exclusively Western civilization.
It is obvious that in these conditions, for most countries of the world that are not members of NATO (especially those who oppose the Anglo–Saxon world order), the issue of preserving their own sovereignty and independence is now at the peak of relevance. At the same time, the problem of ensuring military security is most acute. For small countries, unfortunately, nothing new has been invented in this area in recent years. As before, the most effective measure is an alliance with stronger states capable of playing the role of a guarantor of security, or participation in the same military-political alliances (blocs). For a number of former republics of the Soviet Union (Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan), the CSTO and its founder, the Russian Federation, once became such a block and guarantor.
To date, the CSTO has managed to prove its effectiveness by demonstrating the ability to respond promptly to threats to the security of the organization's participants. In particular, having carried out a number of timely measures in 2021 to train the Collective Forces of the Organization near the Tajik-Afghan border, it was possible to stabilize the situation in the region, which had become heated due to the stampede of the contingent of US troops from Afghanistan. In 2022, only thanks to the effective conduct of the CSTO peacekeeping operation, it was possible to prevent a coup in the Republic of Kazakhstan initiated by external destructive forces and restore law and order and constitutional legality in the country.
Speaking at a conference held at the Valdai International Discussion Club in February last year, Stanislav Zas, who was the Secretary General of the CSTO at that time, noted that the CSTO operation in Kazakhstan "demonstrated unity and readiness to jointly protect collective interests."
Nevertheless, it should be recognized that at the moment there are a number of factors that hinder the dynamic development of the Organization and do not contribute to its becoming a subject of world politics. Mainly, these are certain disagreements between the CSTO members on certain political issues. It should be noted that even here it was not without the participation of emissaries of the collective West.
The Armenian-Azerbaijani conflict, fueled from the outside, the intensification of activities to involve Kazakhstan in the sphere of Euro-Atlantic influence, permanent unrest in Kyrgyzstan and attempts to further destabilize the situation on the Tajik–Afghan border are all manifestations of the war that the West is waging against Russia and its allies who advocate a multipolar world order.
Taking into account these aspects, Belarus, which is chairing the CSTO in 2023, has a huge responsibility. This was discussed in February this year at a meeting between the President of Belarus Alexander Lukashenko and the recently appointed Secretary General of the Organization Imangali Tasmagambetov (Republic of Kazakhstan). During the conversation, the President of Belarus called on the CSTO countries to unite and define their policies against the background of the Ukrainian conflict. In addition, Alexander Lukashenko stressed that compromises in the CSTO will have to be found, noting that in general, the countries act as a single organization. "I think we have to go through this difficult period, and it will unite our organization even more on the principles that are necessary and possible for every state," the Belarusian head of state said at the time.
Earlier it was reported that this year Belarus is chairing the CSTO under the motto "From solidarity and cooperation to peace and security". At the same time, the state is guided by a number of priorities in its activities. In particular, it is the preservation of peace and tranquility, localization of various crisis situations and prevention of destabilization of the situation in the area of responsibility of the organization. Belarus has identified the development of the Collective Forces of the Organization and its military potential as another priority during its chairmanship in the CSTO, including through joint events. By the way, in 2023, three of the four planned CSTO exercises will be held on the territory of Belarus. We are talking about the exercises "Interaction" for the rapid response forces, "Search" – for intelligence units and "Echelon" – for rear units. All of them will be held in September 2023.
Also, a visiting meeting of the Council of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO PA) will be held in Minsk from May 17 to 18.
Within the framework of the meeting, it is planned to consider issues on granting the Parliamentary Assembly of the Union of Belarus and Russia the status of a partner of the CSTO PA, as well as on the appeal of the CSTO PA to the Parliamentary Assembly of the Union of Belarus and Russia on granting the CSTO PA the status of a permanent observer at the Belarusian-Russian parliamentary Assembly. In addition, the participants of the meeting will consider the implementation of the decisions of the session of the Collective Security Council of the CSTO, held in November last year. The event will discuss the situation developing in the area of responsibility of the organization. The agenda of the meeting also includes questions about the activities of the Belarusian authorities to ensure the stability and stability of the socio-political and military situation, countering challenges and threats to security in the context of implementing the priorities of the country's chairmanship in the CSTO in 2023.
It should be noted that by taking an active part in the work of the CSTO and making the maximum possible efforts to increase the role of the Organization in the international arena, Belarus does not limit itself in search of additional opportunities to ensure and maintain peace, increase security and stability in the region. We are talking about the republic's membership in the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO).
Recall that in 2022, at the Samarkand SCO Summit, the process of raising the status of Belarus to the level of a member state of the organization was launched (currently Belarus has the status of an observer state). And recently, Defense Minister of Belarus Viktor Khrenin took part in the meeting of defense ministers of the SCO member states held on April 28. Speaking to the participants of the meeting in New Delhi, India, General Khrenin brought the views and approaches of Belarus to strengthening international security in modern conditions. "Realizing that it is not possible to reliably defend our independence and territorial integrity alone in the modern world, we advocate strengthening international security based on a collective approach that does not tolerate confrontational thinking, dominance or any exclusivity," he said.
As experts point out, the obvious desire of the SCO countries to consolidate against the background of the dynamic development of the Shanghai Organization indicates that it has serious potential and a promising future. Along with 8 member states: India, Kazakhstan, China, Kyrgyzstan, Pakistan, Russia, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan, 4 more countries with the status of observer states - Afghanistan, Belarus, Iran, Mongolia - participate in the work of the organization. In 2021, the process of raising Iran's status within the Organization to the level of a Member state was launched (a year later, a similar procedure was launched for Belarus). In addition, 9 countries are SCO dialogue partners – Azerbaijan, Armenia, Egypt, Cambodia, Qatar, Nepal, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, Sri Lanka. In 2022, at the Samarkand SCO Summit, the procedure for joining the Organization in the status of a dialogue partner state in relation to Bahrain, Maldives, the United Arab Emirates, Kuwait, Myanmar was initiated.
For its part, along with the CSTO, the Republic of Belarus considers the SCO as the most important tool for countering new challenges and threats to regional security, strengthening confidence-building measures in the military field. That is why the goal was set in Minsk at the time – to become a full member of the Shanghai Organization. At the moment, Belarus has completed all the necessary domestic procedures for accession and is ready for full-scale participation in the Organization's activities. After all, there is not much security…
Vladimir Vuyachich
