Russia-led Collective Security Treaty Organization committee to meet

A session of the Committee of Secretaries of Security Councils of the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) will be held via videoconference today.

Secretary of the Russian Security Council, Nikolai Patrushev, will chair today’s session. Member states, including six former republics of the Soviet Union, are expected to discuss challenges and threats to security in the region.

The meeting will take place in the immediate aftermath of a Russia-brokered peace deal between Armenia and Azerbaijan that ceased conflict over the disputed Nagorno-Karabakh region. In doing so, Moscow chose to pursue a course of action outside of the CSTO framework for the deployment of peacekeeping troops. Despite the violation, the other CSTO member states are likely to approve of the decision, since the organisation emphasizes the need for political and diplomatic—rather than military—solutions.

Expect today’s meeting to consider and approve a number of draft decisions of the CSTO Collective Security Council, which include military cooperation and peacekeeping forces training in an effort to increase allied cooperation in the region. Also expected is discussion of the agenda for the upcoming session of the CSTO Collective Security Council to be held in early December.

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