The Russian Government has organized this Monday a meeting in Moscow with the leaders of Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan; on the occasion of the 30th anniversary of the Collective Security Treaty and the 20th anniversary of the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO). According to a statement from the Kremlinthe meeting deals with “key issues of interaction within the framework of the CSTO, current international and regional problems, as well as measures to further improve the collective security system.”
During the meeting, Putin spoke about the possible entry of Finland and Sweden into NATO: “Russia has no problems with these countries, since its entry into NATO does not create a threat“. Afterwards, he has detailed that if enlargement is accompanied by the deployment of “military infrastructure”, Moscow will have to “react”. In this way, Russia gives its arm to twist after repeated threats to these two countries while they decided to join the Alliance.
“I hope that the Organization, which in recent years has become a full-fledged international structure, will continue to develop, considering the difficult times. But I would like to point out in this regard that both in 1992 and 2002 there were also difficult times, which never end,” Putin said at the beginning of the session.
“The organization plays a very important role in the post-Soviet space, a stabilizing role. I hope that in this regard its capabilities and influence on the situation in our area of responsibility do nothing but increase“. Armenia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan abstained from their vote in the vote in the UN Assembly to condemn the Russian invasion. Belarus, on the other hand, was one of only five countries that voted against condemning the Russian invasion. from Ukraine.
Alexander Lukashenko, president of Belarus, also explained during the meeting that “without a united front, the collective West will increase pressure on the post-Soviet space” and has described the West’s punishments as “infernal sanctions”.