When you think of the world’s biggest and most successful military alliance, you probably will
immediately think of NATO. However, there are actually various security partnerships around the
globe whose main aim is to combine security forces and protect each other as well as the region where
it is located. The same goes for the Eurasia’s Collective Security Treaty Organization or CSTO,
which was built by some of the post-Soviet nations. Recently, CSTO was known to be an
influencing factor in soothing the serious unrest which took place in Kazakhstan in the beginning of
2022. So, what CSTO really is? And what kind of security alliance this organization has?
Hello everyone. You are watching another episode of the Military TV.
In today’s episode, we are going to take a look at the details of the Collective Security Treaty
Organization (CSTO). For more interesting insights, don’t go anywhere and stay tuned!
The Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) is a military-political alliance comprised of six
post-Soviet states: Russia, Kazakhstan, Belarus, Armenia, Tajikistan, and Kyrgyzstan.
The CSTO, like NATO, was established to protect its members from military aggression.
An attack on one country is considered the same as an attack on all states. Members of the CSTO
are also prohibited from joining other military alliances. There are also branches of the unity
that collaborate to combat terrorist threats, drug trafficking, extremism, and natural disasters.
Let’s first take a look at how CSTO was established through its history.
Initially, CSTO developed out of the framework of the Commonwealth of Independent States,
which was a regional intergovernmental organization in Eastern Europe and Asia
established following the dissolution of the Soviet Union.
Began as the CIS Collective Security Treaty and signed on 15 May 1992 by several Central
Asian countries like Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Armenia, Russia, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan, the
organization then expanded with the new membership of Azerbaijan, Georgia and Belarus in 1993.
The CSTO was established to last for 5-year period with possibility of extension. In 1999, unlike
the other six members of the CST, Azerbaijan, Georgia and Uzbekistan chose not to extend their
memberships and hence withdrew from the treaty. In the Tajik capital of Dushanbe in October 2007,
the CSTO signed an agreement with the Shanghai Cooperation Organization
(SCO) to expand cooperation on issues such as security, crime, and drug trafficking.
On October 6, 2007, CSTO members agreed to a major expansion of the organization,
creating a CSTO peacekeeping force that could deploy with or without
a U.N. mandate in its member states. All members would also be able to purchase Russian weapons
at the same price as Russia under the expansion. Prior to the current situation with Kazakhstan,
the organization's members requested assistance at two points in its history.
The first occurred in 2009, when Kyrgyzstan faced the threat of civil war as a result of violent
clashes between the Kyrgyz and Uzbek diasporas in the country's south. The CSTO participated in
the conflict resolution but did not send troops. Armenia sent another appeal in the summer of 2021
in connection with the situation on its border with Azerbaijan, following Azerbaijan's capture
of Nagorno-Karabakh in the fall of 2020, and the CSTO also rejected it.
Now, let’s see how CSTO was helping to resolve the Kazakhstan unrest.
For 30 years, the CSTO has remained a peaceful alliance that holds annual collective military
drills but has never sent troops anywhere. Kazakhstan's situation
has established the first precedent for the deployment of CSTO military forces.
According to Tokaev, the Kazakh President, there was an attempt of coup in the country,
during which casualties included 17 policemen, 26 protesters, as well as a thousand people who
were injured. The series of events had urged him to request immediate assistance from the CSTO.
The legal basis for such a step is a paragraph in the CSTO charter that calls for the "creation
and development of a system for responding to crises, as well as events that threaten
the member states' security, stability, territorial integrity, and sovereignty."
Igor Korotchenko, en editor-in-chief of the ‘National Defense’ magazine
said in one of his statements that this was the first CSTO collective force operation
since the organization's inception. The primary tasks of the peacekeeping
mission in Kazakhstan were to protect the vital state and military facilities
while also assisting law enforcement in maintaining the stability of the situation
and delivering it to the legal field. Russia, Belarus, Armenia, Tajikistan,
and Kyrgyzstan are among the countries represented in the peacekeeping force.
More than 2,500 paratroopers are part of the contingent, which is supported by light armored
vehicles, BMD-4 amphibious combat vehicles, Tiger armored vehicles, BTR-82A armored personnel
carriers, satellite communication stations, and Leer-3 electronic warfare complexes.
Korotchenko also claimed that it is a peacekeeping mission to keep the streets calm.
"No shots have been fired yet, and weapons will only be used as a last resort if our
soldiers are in danger," the expert adds. Putin subsequently claimed that the CSTO has
successfully managed to prevent the further sabotaging of the state power and a serious
deterioration of the internal affairs in a matter of hours. The Russian leader continued by stating
that the situation in Kazakhstan was gradually returning to normal, mentioning that a series of
important locations including the Almaty Airport have been cleared of criminals and terrorists.
Similar to other international establishment, CSTO also set its eyes on the issue of expansion.
Let’s see how CSTO planned to expand its reach. In May 2007, CSTO Secretary-General Nikolai
Bordyuzha expressed interest in Iran joining the group, saying, "The CSTO is a non-profit
organization that is open to the public. We will evaluate Iran's application if it is made
in conformity with our charter." Iran would be the first country outside of the former Soviet
Union to join the organization if it did. In 2013, the CSTO Parliamentary Assembly
granted observer rights to the National Assembly of the Republic of Serbia
and the lower house of the National Assembly of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan.
On the other hand, Uzbekistan conducted a bilateral military exercise with Russia
and a trilateral military exercise with Russia and Tajikistan in 2021, after becoming an observer
to the Eurasian Economic Union on December 11, 2020. Its president also attended a CSTO summit,
sparking a rumor about probable reentry of Uzbekistan to the organization.
That’s all for today. Thanks for watching and see you in our next video!