July 19, 2024
Allow me to thank the Russian presidency of the United Nations Security Council for the invitation to take part in the debate on the interaction between the United Nations and regional organizations – the CSTO, the CIS and the SCO.
I highly appreciate my participation in the meeting of the main body of the World Organization responsible for maintaining global peace and international security. I am convinced that today’s debate will contribute to the development of new, additional mechanisms for United Nations cooperation with the CSTO, the CIS and the SCO – the leading regional organizations operating in the Eurasian security space.
The Collective Security Treaty Organization regards the United Nations as its main international partner. We are always in favor of further developing cooperation with it on the basis of the United Nations Charter, above all its Chapter VIII.
This is particularly relevant in the current difficult times, when fundamental changes are taking place in international life. The practice of resolving international problems by force is on the rise, and there is a de facto rejection of the universal norms of international law. The crisis of confidence between the world centers is causing great damage to the possibility of making mutually acceptable decisions on many issues of global security.
In an environment of strategic instability, numerous “dormant” conflicts are entering a “hot” phase. Subregional problems develop into regional conflicts. At the same time, they are often of an openly managed nature. Their number is multiplying. According to available statistics, more than 180 conflicts of regional and local scale were recorded in the world last year. That is more than at any time in the past thirty years.
I would emphasize the timeliness of the points made by the United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres in the “New Agenda for Peace” on the importance of reducing strategic security risks through preventive regional activities. In our contribution to the discussion of the “New Agenda”, we agreed with the assessment that regional security organizations have a central role to play in maintaining peace and preventing and overcoming instability.
We in the CSTO proceed from the premise that in today’s world, which is subject to critical changes, countries cannot face growing challenges and threats alone. Over the years of the UN’s existence, the functionality of regional organizations has expanded considerably. They are closer to the hotbeds of problems, see a conflict at its inception and take preventive measures with the available resources. By strengthening regional stability in accordance with the national interests of member states, regional organizations are able to form an alternative to ineffective or outdated models of relations and create new, more effective mechanisms for ensuring security. Thereby contributing to the expansion of the space of opportunities for the free and successful internal development of states and for mutually beneficial and equitable international cooperation in the emerging multipolar world.
The CSTO’s strategic goal is to ensure collective security by consolidating efforts on the basis of partnership and the universally recognized norms and principles of international law. The leitmotif of all our actions is the principle of ensuring the equal and indivisible security of the member states through strengthening the national security of each state and rejecting bloc thinking. We do not aim to become a counterweight to any other organization or country.
The increasing coincidence or proximity of the approaches of the CSTO member states with the CIS and the SCO on the most important issues on the international agenda directs us towards the consistent development of relations with these organizations. We fully support the provisions of the Astana Declaration of the Council of Heads of State of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization that tectonic shifts are taking place in world politics, the economy and other spheres of international relations, a more equitable and multipolar world order is emerging, opportunities are expanding for the development of states and the implementation of mutually beneficial and equitable international cooperation.
In this connection, we support the Russian initiative to form a new continental architecture of interaction in the security, economic and humanitarian spheres, designed to serve the conjugation of integration projects and the harmonization of relations between development centers in Eurasia.
For its part, the CSTO is aimed at the effective fulfillment of its statutory tasks in its zone of responsibility and has the necessary potential.
Our Organization is highly appreciated as a partner in the resolution adopted by the 77th session of the United Nations General Assembly “On cooperation between the United Nations and the CSTO” (A/RES/77/13). It notes that “since the signing of the Collective Security Treaty, the CSTO has been transformed into a multidisciplinary structure with the potential to respond adequately to a wide range of challenges and threats in its area of responsibility”. We trust that the objective positive assessments will also be enshrined in the new draft resolution, which is being prepared for submission to the forthcoming 79th session of the United Nations General Assembly.
Over the thirty years of the existence of the Collective Security Treaty, our Organization has firmly established itself as an effective comprehensive system of collective security. The Organization’s military potential is being strengthened. Its capabilities in the information and analytical sphere are expanding with a view to making timely forecasts and formulating recommendations on how to deal with various challenges and threats to the security of the CSTO member states.
The Organization has succeeded in preventing or mitigating a number of crises in its area of responsibility. Acting in a large part of the Eurasian space, we give priority to the political and diplomatic dimension of our activities and are improving our capabilities in crisis response, peacekeeping efforts and countering challenges and threats.
The CSTO continues its efforts to achieve lasting peace in the South Caucasus. I would like to emphasize the positive results of the May (2024) meeting in Astana between the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Armenia and his Azerbaijani counterpart, initiated by the Chairman of the CSTO CSC, President K.K. Tokayev.
Afghanistan remains the main hotbed of instability in the Central Asian region.
Despite the known positive changes in this country, the probability of the spread of terrorism, radical ideology and criminal drug trafficking is not only not decreasing, but is acquiring new forms. We note additional challenges associated with signs of competition for the natural resources of this region, primarily water, which may cause interstate conflicts.
Despite the severity of the problem, we have been able to maintain control in this area of responsibility. The Organization attaches particular importance to monitoring and forecasting the possible development of the situation. The CSTO Council of Foreign Ministers has a successful Working Group on Afghanistan, in the work of which representatives of specialized departments of the United Nations, the CIS, the SCO, the Afghan embassy and interested third countries take part.
In this regard, we note the usefulness of regular contacts with United Nations bodies and also with the Special Representatives of the Secretary-General for Afghanistan and Central Asia. The exchange of views testifies to the proximity of both general assessments of the possible development of the situation in the region and specific preventive action.
The Organization is implementing a number of large-scale practical measures aimed at reducing tensions and strengthening the Tajik-Afghan border.
As the most important practical area of our cooperation in the long term, we see the formation of organizational and legal conditions for integrating the peacekeeping potential of the CSTO member states into United Nations peacekeeping activities. The Organization has the resources to participate effectively in United Nations peacekeeping missions. To date, the CSTO CPF has about 3,800 personnel. They generally meet the requirements and standards of the United Nations in terms of both structure and readiness to act as intended. With a view to involving the Organization’s collective peacekeeping potential in United Nations operations, the institution of a “coordinating state” has come into force, and the post of Special Representative of the CSTO Secretary General for Peacekeeping Issues has been established in the rank of Deputy Secretary General of the CSTO. In this connection, we welcome the independent participation of the national peacekeeping contingent of the Republic of Kazakhstan in the United Nations Forces in the responsible area of monitoring the disengagement in the Golan Heights.
In recognition of our Organization’s contribution to the global fight against terrorism, we consider the high assessment of the CSTO’s activities in implementing the United Nations Global Counter-Terrorism Strategy, as set out in the resolution on cooperation between the United Nations and the CSTO, which I have mentioned at the 77th session of the United Nations General Assembly.
We are satisfied with the development of our interaction with the UN Counter-Terrorism Office and the Executive Director of the UN Security Council Counter-Terrorism Committee, as well as the UN Office on Drugs and Crime, within the framework of the existing memorandums. We are interested in further expanding this cooperation. We intend to further develop all areas of cooperation on the basis of the joint Declaration on Cooperation between the CSTO and UN Secretariats of 18 March 2010 and the existing Memorandums and Protocols on cooperation between the CSTO and the UN in various areas.
We have effective practical experience – methods of cooperation developed over the years aimed at depriving international terrorist organizations of a “breeding ground”. They are implemented mainly on the basis of planned preventive and operational measures, such as operations “Channel”, “PROXY”, “Illegal” and “Mercenary”, carried out by the competent authorities of the CSTO member states. Their purpose is to systematically counter illicit drug trafficking, suppress illegal migration and prevent the use of information and communication technologies in the interests of the international terrorist international, as well as to cut off channels of recruitment and entry/exit of citizens of our states for participation in terrorist activities and to neutralize the resource base of terrorist organizations.
We are ready to share our experience in conducting special preventive operations, which we have intensified in connection with the negative consequences of the Afghan crisis for the security and stability of our allies. We take this opportunity to call on international and regional organizations and individual states not only to observe our trainings and operations but also to participate in them. The partnership mechanism developed in our Organization and the productive contacts we have with the relevant United Nations structures make it possible to do so.
In the interests of strengthening the key role of the United Nations in countering threats in the information space and in accordance with existing UN Security Council resolutions, in particular 1624 and 2354, we are ready to join efforts in the area of information security. The CSTO member states are actively participating in the process of developing universal rules, norms and principles of responsible behavior in the information space under the auspices of the United Nations and emphasize the importance of efforts within the framework of the United Nations Open-ended Working Group on Security in the Use of Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs). We view the Working Group as an effective, central negotiating mechanism on this topic at the UN. The principles of our joint actions, including the central and coordinating role of the UN, in preventing and combating the use of the Internet for terrorist purposes are consolidated in the relevant Statement by the foreign ministers of the CSTO member states adopted in June of this year.
The severity of regional conflicts is not diminishing and poses a permanent threat to international peace. In order to take preventive action and overcome the danger, we are ready to use the considerable and still unused potential in combining the efforts of the CSTO, other specialized structures of regional organizations in Eurasia and the United Nations security structures.
The CSTO is open to joint actions on the formation of a Eurasian security architecture with all interested states and interstate associations in accordance with the purposes and principles of the Charter of the United Nations. Including on the basis of the Russian proposal to begin work on the formulation of the parameters and principles of such an architecture in a unifying document tentatively entitled “Eurasian Charter of Diversity and Multipolarity in the 21st Century”.
I am convinced that today’s meeting will give additional impetus to practical cooperation between the United Nations and the CSTO and other regional structures operating on the Eurasian continent in the interests of peace and security. We have all the prerequisites for this.
Thank you for your attention.