July 19, 2024
Distinguished Colleagues,
It is a great honor for me to speak at the UNSC briefing on “Cooperation between the UN and regional and subregional organizations: CSTO, CIS and SCO”, which is one of the central events within the framework of Russia’s presidency in the UN Security Council.
The development of cooperation with regional organizations on the basis of Chapter VIII of the Charter is an integral element of the UN agenda. It is also one of the priorities of Russia’s foreign policy on the UN track. We believe that in most cases such organizations have a better understanding of the situation on the ground and are able to complement the efforts of the United Nations in their area of responsibility and within their mandate.
In Eurasia, the CSTO, the CIS and the SCO play a special role in this regard. These are key organizations for the region, and they have Observer Status with the UN General Assembly. Over the years of their operation, they have achieved significant results, including in boosting integration processes, preventing conflicts and combating terrorism, thus making a meaningful contribution to the implementation of the purposes and principles of the UN Charter.
The core of the CSTO mandate is to ensure security and stability within its area of responsibility. A good example of its effectiveness in this regard was the regional peacekeeping operation in Kazakhstan in January 2022, conducted at the request of the country’s President.
Within the CSTO, we are systematically working on enhancing the Organization’s defence potential and streamlining the components of the collective security system. We are conducting joint exercises and other practical activities to combat international terrorism, drug trafficking, organized crime and other cross-border challenges. We are also continuously developing cooperation in “new” areas, such as biological and international information security.
We are satisfied with the level of cooperation between the CSTO and the UN. We attach particular importance to strengthening coordination on regional issues with a focus on Afghanistan. We see good prospects for involving the CSTO in United Nations peacekeeping activities. The necessary legal framework for the CSTO’s participation in UN peacekeeping operations has already been established.
There are positive trends in cooperation between the UN and the CSTO, and it is important that these trends and the practical results of the cooperation be reflected in a traditional UNGA resolution.
Another important task of the Russian Federation is to build up interaction of the CIS with the UN, and Russia is willing to facilitate this process within its CIS presidency this year. We are determined to work vigorously in this regard.
The CIS Executive Committee maintains contacts with the leadership of more than 10 UN agencies and bodies of various kind, including UNESCO, UNCTAD, UNECE, UNESCAP, WHO, IOM. We have signed Memoranda on cooperation with many of them. This provides an opportunity to exchange views and experience on key issues of global and regional agenda, and jointly seek solutions to new challenges and threats. Last year, the CIS introduced Observer and Partner statuses, thus allowing countries and associations concerned to establish closer links with the organization. Please draw your attention to these new mechanisms of interaction with the CIS. We note that the organization is open to fruitful cooperation on a wide range of issues.
Within the CIS, we are implementing a number of comprehensive multilateral programs with the view to strengthening security on external borders, combatting terrorism and extremism, and fighting organized crime. Moreover, we are finalizing a new de-radicalization program, designed to promote a consolidated policy in the region to suppress radical and extremist trends and build inter-faith dialogue.
There is close interaction between the counterparts in the CIS and the UN. In particular, the CIS Anti-Terrorism Center is maintaining contacts with the UN Office of Counter-Terrorism, the Counter-Terrorism Committee Executive Directorate (CTED), and the United Nations Regional Centre for Preventive Diplomacy for Central Asia (UNRCCA).
We are convinced that expanding the depoliticized professional dialogue between the UN and the CIS will facilitate more effective work on addressing modern challenges and threats.
The links between the SCO and the UN are also successfully developing. Today, the organization brings together 26 member states, observers and partners. Its geographical scope extends from South and Southeast Asia to the Middle East and Europe.
On July 3-4, Astana held the SCO summit. One of its meaningful results was the accession of the Republic of Belarus to the Organization. The final declaration states that a more fair and multipolar world order is emerging. To mark the 80th anniversary of the UN, SCO member states endorsed the Initiative “On World Unity for a Just Peace, Harmony and Development”. The goal of the initiative is to do away with the policy of confrontation, and establish honest and direct dialog on issues of ensuring stability and security, in order to counter traditional and new challenges and threats in strict compliance with the UN Charter.
It’s particularly important for us to have thematic contacts with UN bodies and agencies. For example, it is hard to overestimate the importance of joint anti-drug activities held in cooperation with the UN Office on Drugs and Crime within the framework of the Commission on Narcotic Drugs in Vienna, co-organized by the Russia. We support the development of co-operation between the regional SCO Anti-Terrorist Body and the United Nations Office of Counter-Terrorism, which have signed a memorandum to that effect.
Another constant priority of the SCO is combatting the threats of terrorism, separatism, extremism, drug trafficking and transnational organized crime, especially those emanating from Afghanistan. In order to resolve these challenges, the Astana Summit approved The Program of Cooperation in Combating Terrorism, Separatism and Extremism for 2025-2027 and the Anti-Drug Strategy for 2024-2029.
We also believe that it is very promising to have cooperation between the SCO Secretariat and ESCAP, UNESCO, FAO, the World Tourism Organization, the UN Office for the Coordination of Terrorism and the UN Office for Counter-Terrorism. This cooperation is based on Memoranda of understanding. In February, another Memorandum of Understanding was signed in Nairobi between the SCO and the UN Environment Program.
Distinguished Colleagues,
We must acknowledge that not all regional actors demonstrate the same constructive attitude as the CSTO, CIS and SCO.
Over the past decades, NATO and its members have promoted the concept of world order and security architecture based on the principles of domination of one “power center” and the flouting of the legitimate concerns of other states. However, this concept has obviously failed completely.
Against this background, it is clear that Eurasia needs a new security architecture, which will contribute to filling in the conceptual, legal and institutional vacuum that clearly endangers the countries of the region.
This is what was the focus of the proposal put forward by the President of the Russian Federation Vladimir Putin on June 14, when he talked about a continent-wide, equal and indivisible system of security, within which there will be no room for zero-sum games and attempts to ensure one’s own security at the expense of others.
This principle has acquired an international legal character and is being successfully implemented within the CSTO, the CIS and the SCO. We do believe that if it were to become universal, it could drastically improve the situation in the world and become a catalyst of positive shifts globally.
We intend to have a broad dialogue with all potential participants of the future architecture. We invite all states and organizations (in both Europe and Asia) interested in such dialog to join this important conversation. Our common goal is to formulate the framework principles of the Eurasian architecture based on the basic norms of international law and the UN Charter, as well as to define strategic outlines of multilateralism that would reflect the new geopolitical reality.
In this process, it is crucial, in our opinion, to agree on three main issues: developing a system of agreements on mutual and collective security guarantees; settling the conflicts on the continent; and excluding disruptive influence by players outside the region on the situation in Eurasia.
Individual states and their entities are to determine themselves areas of mutually beneficial cooperation, fine-tune existing and create new institutions, mechanisms and arrangements with a view to meeting joint security interests and, as a result, building a continent-wide architecture.
In the long run, this new, more fair and more balanced system could become a prototype for a new global security architecture.
Distinguished Colleagues,
In conclusion, I would like to reaffirm the willingness of the CIS, the CSTO and the SCO to resolve nascent problems only through political and diplomatic methods in compliance with the norms of international law, with the United Nations playing the main role. We are ready for constructive co-operation with all members of the international community, which is enshrined in the fundamental documents of our organizations.
I thank you for your attention.
Right of reply:
We regret that a number of delegations have used this meeting to reiterate their unsubstantiated fabrications about Russia rather than stick to the agenda of the meeting. I believe that this is disrespectful to regional organizations and their members. However, in no way can it disrupt the effectively developing co-operation in Eurasia. We have repeatedly spoken of our attitude towards this cooperation. What is also ridiculous is the fabrications of our American colleague regarding what regional organizations should not be like. These stories about coercion, violation of the principles of the UN Charter, and interference in the internal affairs of states outside the region of their jurisdiction would suit NATO more perfectly.