Armenia Assumes CSTO Chairmanship

MOSCOW — Armenian President Serzh Sarkisian, who is in Moscow on a working visit, participates in Collective Security Council session of Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO).

According to Armenian presidential press service, the session was chaired by Armenian President Serzh Sarkisian who assumed the chairmanship in CSTO.

At the plenary session of the CSTO the parties signed a number of documents, including the Declaration of the Heads of the CSTO on fighting international terrorism, drafts of the resolutions of the Collective Security Council “On the Secretary General of the CSTO” and “On the rotation of the officials – members of the permanent bodies of the CSTO.”

“We see as a priority task the decisive fight against the ISIL (Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant — former name of IS) terrorist group that has unleashed cruel bloodshed in many countries and presents a threat to the entire humanity,” the CSTO member countries said in a joint statement.

“We note the growth of security threats in Central Asia connected with activities of ISIL, the Taliban movement, Al-Qaeda and other terrorist organizations on the territory of Afghanistan which leads to escalation of tensions on CSTO’s southern borders, directly threatening with destabilization of the situation in the area of its (CSTO’s) responsibility,” the statement added.

The document noted that CSTO member states call on all countries to strictly comply with requirements of anti-terrorist resolutions of UN Security Council and General Assembly. The leaders of CSTO member countries also called for forming a broad coalition on the basis of UN Charter, norms and principles of international law without politicizing and preconditions.

“We pay much attention to further strengthening the package of measures aimed at fighting against the ideology of international terrorism and religious extremism. We are confident that in order to strengthen civil immunity to distribution of radical ideas, it is necessary to add to efforts of relevant state authorities the potential of public structures, media and religious confessions,” the statement said.

The CSTO groups Russia, Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, and Tajikistan.