The end of the year is the time for summing up. On New Year's Eve, everyone wants to calculate and evaluate the results achieved, praise or criticize themselves and others. The Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) is no exception. The other day, on December 19, a joint meeting of the Council and the 16th plenary session of the CSTO Parliamentary Assembly were held in Moscow. The main topic of the events was the results of the session of the Collective Security Council (CSC) of the Organization, held on November 23 in Minsk.
Speaking to those present, CSTO Secretary General Imangali Tasmagambetov named among the main overall results for the year "the unconditional priority of the CSTO", which was "a return to the unifying agenda in the interests of resolving conflicts and crises, overcoming problems growing in international relations." This consolidated position was fixed in the final Declaration of the CSTO Security Council.
In addition, the development and adoption of the Decision of the SCB "On measures to develop a crisis response system" were called important achievements of the year ending. Following the results of the session of the Security Council, decisions were approved to clarify the composition and deployment of Troops (Collective Forces) of the Security Council, the development of Peacekeeping Forces and infrastructure for coordinating peacekeeping contingents, and Recommendations on the organization of communications in groups of Troops (Collective Forces) The CSTO.
Also, "taking advantage of the opportunity", the Secretary General of the CSTO expressed gratitude to the Belarusian presidency for holding a high-level International conference "Eurasian Security: Reality and Prospects in a Transforming World" in Minsk in October of this year.
It should be noted here that only positive feedback from experts and high ratings from specialists are heard about the results of Belarus' chairmanship in the Organization at the end of the year. Among them are the editor–in-chief of the National Defense magazine and Russian journalist Igor Korotchenko. In the In-Topic project on BelTA's YouTube channel, the military expert pointed out that "Minsk is an ideal platform for communication in the current conditions," and "Belarus set a high pace during the CSTO presidency."
Speaking about Belarus' contribution to the development of the CSTO in 2023, Igor Korotchenko noted: "Minsk has always been considered as an ideal platform for communication and dialogue in the context of the current confrontation between the West and Russia. Because, first of all, there is the personal position of President Alexander Lukashenko, who is aimed at constructive interaction even with hostile neighbors. Where necessary, Alexander Grigoryevich says: we have both the power potential and tactical nuclear weapons, but we are nevertheless ready to cooperate." "This is a positive message. Today it is important not only to have the power potential, but also, as they say, brains. And brains are thought factories that have consolidated their work this year just for the tasks that Minsk formulated," the expert said.
Among other things, Igor Korotchenko noted that a very serious contribution had been made to strengthening, first of all, the potential of the Organization in terms of its military capabilities. "I consider it equally important to strengthen information and analytical expertise," the military analyst also said. The expert also noted "Minsk's initiative on the need to consolidate the entire potential in the field of expert diplomacy of our think tanks, a unified planning approach to assessing risks, threats and expert interaction in general." "This is still a fundamentally new characteristic feature, which can be attributed to the fact that this year we worked under the presidency of Belarus," Igor Korotchenko wrote.
The Belarusian Institute for Strategic Studies (BIS) has earned a special assessment. "This is the leading "thought factory" in the post-Soviet space and on the Eurasian continent as a whole. <...> Strategic understanding of planning problems, general methodology in risk and threat assessment approaches. I think that BIS has played one of the key roles in terms of the task set by the President of Belarus to strengthen information and analytical cooperation," Igor Korotchenko said.
In general, the expert community is confident that the presidency of Belarus has given a very serious impetus to the development and strengthening of the Organization, because "the Belarusian leadership was initially aimed at high-quality and very effective performance of all the functions that the presiding party receives."
From myself, I can only add that it could not have been any other way, since the growing tension in the Eastern European region is very clearly felt in Belarus.
Vladimir Vuyachich
