Military-political situation in CSTO responsibility zone continues to escalate - Lukashenko
MINSK. June 13 (Interfax-AVN) - The military-political situation has been escalating in the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) zone of responsibility, Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko told the CSTO defense ministers in Minsk on Tuesday.
He greeted the ministers and drew their attention to the 25th anniversary of the Collective Security Treaty and the 15th anniversary of the CSTO marked in 2017.
"The military-political situation in the CSTO zone of responsibility could not have been called tranquil through all those years. It continues to escalate at the current stage. You are well aware of the developments in the collective security region. I am sure that we see eye-to-eye on current threats in various security areas," the BelTA state-run news agency quoted Lukashenko as saying.
Under those circumstances, Belarus attributes special meaning to the efficiency of the CSTO Charter bodies, Lukashenko said, adding that he expected the defense ministers' meeting to bolster security of the member countries.
A number of military and other initiatives were put forward when Belarus assumed the role of the Collective Security Council chair country, Lukashenko said. The initiatives concerned the implementation of the CSTO collective security strategy, an improvement of the crisis response network, and deeper military-technical cooperation.