Meeting with ministers of foreign affairs of CSTO member states

Belarusian President Aleksandr Lukashenko met with the ministers of foreign affairs of the member states of the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) in Minsk on 20 June.

According to the head of state, the time for the organization is now very difficult and requires maximum mobilization of forces, experience and resources to maintain peace. Ahead of the meeting, the President thought about what to say, because a lot has recently been voiced at the meetings with the heads of the CIS special services and secretaries of the CSTO security councils.

Giving an assessment of the activities of the CSTO, Aleksandr Lukashenko said that the organization was sometimes rightly criticized for its inability to solve specific problems. For example, Kyrgyzstan has long been asking for help in resolving the conflict with Tajikistan. Armenia also puts forward justified claims. “I would say that there are problems, serious problems. If we do not solve these problems, the CSTO countries will always reproach each other, express dissatisfaction with the work of the organization. Problems need to be addressed. No matter how hard these problems are, we need to look into the problems that CSTO member Armenia and CSTO members Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan are facing,” the head of state said.

“There are problems, and they must be solved, no matter how difficult they may be. What do we sometimes have? We sometimes do not want to solve them because of their complexity,” Aleksandr Lukashenko said. This in turn leads to criticism from certain countries.

“Why am I talking about this at our meeting? Not a single decision is made in our organizations (neither in the EAEU, nor even in the CSTO) without you. This is your job - to study the problem in depth, involve the necessary services in this (in the examples I mentioned these are the military and special services), to work through the issue and make proposals for its solution at the level of heads of state. This is the main thing. Every year I see this problem in the CSTO functioning,” the President explained.

“It is necessary to solve the issues that certain states are facing. Without you, no one will ever begin to resolve these issues. From my point of view, this is your colossal role,” Aleksandr Lukashenko continued. “Let us put these problems on the agenda and solve them. If we help resolve the conflict on the border of Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan, they will be grateful to us. People will stop dying, and these states will always be grateful to us.” The same applies to the most complicated problem between Azerbaijan and Armenia.

“The danger is that if our ‘friends-advisers’ from the West get in there (and you see: they are doing their best to get in there), it will be difficult for us to solve these problems. These important issues are reflected in the CSTO documents for the period of Belarus' presidency in the organization, and all the tasks outlined must be solved,” the President said.