The Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO)

The Treaty on Collective Security (TCS) was signed in Tashkent, Uzbekistan on 15 May 1992. Now the participants of this Treaty are Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, the Kyrgyz Republic, Russia and Tajikistan. The document was ratified by all mentioned above states for a period of five years, subject to a further renewal. It was registered at the United Nations on 1 November 1995.

The Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) was established on 18 September 2003 in accordance with the decision of the heads of member-states about transformation of the Treaty into the international regional organization. The main purpose of the Organization is coordination and deepening of military and political cooperation, development of multilateral structures and mechanisms of cooperation for ensuring national security of the member-states on collective basis, providing assistance, including military one, to the member-states who has fallen a victim of aggression. More...

In Article 2, the Treaty indicates: "In case of threat to security, territorial integrity and sovereignty of one or several member-states or threat to international peace and security, the member-states will immediately put into action the mechanism of joint consultations with a view to coordinating their positions and taking measures to eliminate the threat that has emerged".

The Article 4 simultaneously stipulates that: "In case an act of aggression is committed against any of the member-states, all other member-states will render it necessary assistance, including military one, as well as provide support with the means at their disposal through an exercise of the right to collective defense in accordance with Article 51 of the UN Charter".

The doctrinal plan of CSTO expresses only defensive orientation of military policy of the member-states with a priority of political ways of prevention and liquidation of military conflicts. The content of the Treaty shows that it is first of all the factor of military and political restraint. The member-states of the Treaty consider nobody as an enemy and support mutually beneficial cooperation with all states. Membership in the Organization is open to any State which shares its purposes and principles and is prepared to undertake the obligations set forth in the CSTO Charter and other international treaties and decisions which are in effect within the framework of the Organization.

Regional character of the Treaty on Collective Security

The essence, the principles, the forms of CSTO cooperation and the declared positions provide a real opportunity for the Organization to become a component of the common and universal security system in Europe and Asia.

"Uniting the efforts in the sphere of collective security, the member-states create a system of collective security as a component of the all-European security system and a part of a possible security system in Asia also" (Declaration of the Member-states of the Treaty on Collective Security).

The bodies of CSTO: