Post-Soviet security bloc to set up crisis response centre

MOSCOW, January 15. /TASS/. The Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) is due to establish a Crisis Response Centre to help member-states deal with major security threats, Secretary-General Nikolai Bordyuzha said on Thursday. In an interview with Krasnaya Zvezda, an official newspaper of Russia’s Defence Ministry, Bordyuzha said the plans on setting up the centre were announced at the meeting of a decision-making body, the Collective Security Council. The centre, which is to be created with Moscow’s assistance, is expected to coordinate with Russia’s new National Defence Control Centre, aimed at integrating the leadership and direction of defense and security structures in real time. “Thus we will get an opportunity to use the already tested channels of communications and management in the interests of crisis response. Particular national management structures will be involved in this scheme,” Bordyuzha said. The centre will be part of the CSTO Secretariat and will coordinate work with the Joint Staff in an effort to make the crisis response system work in all the member-states of the alliance. “In parallel, work is underway to establish communication links with the member-states so that we have direct links, exchange information and if needed, coordinate on elaborating decisions,” he said. Bordyuzha said the need for new approaches comes amid sharp changes in the global political environment, stressing that the world is in fact on the brink of “an open confrontation.” “International mechanisms which earlier played a significant role in ensuring stability are inefficient today. Cooperation in the fight against terrorism has been suspended, and sanctions are being introduced,” he said. The CSTO, established in 1992, is headquartered in Moscow and comprised of Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia and Tajikistan. In 2002, the six post-Soviet states agreed to create the CSTO as a military alliance. Read more