... players, including Russia and Kazakhstan, and their integration associations.
Question:
What is Moscow’s view on the further development of bilateral integration processes, including Russia-Kazakhstan interaction within the framework of the EAEU, the CSTO and the SCO? What are your priorities for the near future?
Sergey Lavrov:
You are aware that the idea of the Eurasian Economic Union was proposed by First President of the Republic of Kazakhstan Nursultan Nazarbayev, who put it forth back in 1994 ...
... economic interest in aligning its standards with those of Russia.
On the military level, an increased influence of the Kremlin in Moldova would make it possible to negotiate the integration of Chisinau into the Collective Security Treaty Organisation (CSTO). If this were to happen, the Kremlin could reduce the presence of Russian peacekeeping troops in Transdniestria. In effect, if Moldova joins the CSTO, Moscow would become the protector of Moldova and de jure of Transdniestria, as this territory ...
... intense cooperation between the affected states. However, the anti-drug potential of regional organisations such as the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO), the Sino-Russian led security alliance, or the Collective Security Treaty Organisation (CSTO), is not fully exploited and is limited in terms of capacity and political will.
Russia has been promoting collective security with its Central Asian neighbours through the
Shanghai Cooperation Organisation
. Created in 2001 and composed of eight ...
... gradual harmonization of new aspects of life in Russia and Belarus.
In the long run, however, this approach may lead to the functions of the Union State being delegated to the Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU) and the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO). In fact, the EAEU is already seizing the initiative from the Union State not only in terms of economic issues (such as forming a uniform industrial policy, resolving disputes related to the free movement of goods and abolishing roaming charges),...
... today, Russia is not surrounded exclusively by friendly neighbours. Even in the best-case scenario, it would take an extremely long time to create a reliable “good-neighbourliness belt” around Moscow. The Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) that many in Russia view as potential “Eurasian” counterbalance to the North Atlantic Alliance is hardly capable of filling the “geopolitical vacuum” in the near future. While NATO continues the process of enlargement, the CSTO, on the contrary,...
... the political will of the
leaders of key Euro-Atlantic region countries, a process is launched for a
comprehensive restoration of partnership with Russia on the one hand, and NATO,
the U.S. and the EU on the other. Relations are built according to a CSTO-NATO
format. The main objective is to provide mutual security guarantees and joint
countermeasures against terrorism, extremism, and the rising tide of cyber
crimes. The U.S., EU, China, and Russia take steps to create an all-inclusive
security space....
... Russia is portrayed as perhaps the biggest cyber threat. The Russia-West divide in the digital sphere strengthens extremists’ positions.
Igor Ivanov, Sam Nunn, Desmond Browne, Wolfgang Ischinger:
Ensuring Euro-Atlantic Security
Fifth, NATO and the CSTO as two military alliances are ill-suited for countering new methods of extremist activity. This especially applies to NATO, which has still largely preserved its makeup from the Cold War era. The CSTO, with its focus on the Central Asian vector, ...
... not only because it has been more severe over the past two years than at any time in the past, but also because it creates additional animosities between partner states in multilateral formats (the EAEU and the Collective Security Treaty Organization, CSTO). Russia’s desire to remain an active mediator in the conflict was complicated by visible tensions between Kazakhstan and Armenia, and by the independent position taken by Belarus. New proposals were made in 2016 for a diplomatic solution, but ...
... place last spring: information on the truce being periodically breached keeps coming in. Most likely, the conflict will not be resolved, but its escalation into a full-fledged war is unlikely either. As for the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO), there is little chance of it changing its stance with regard to the situation, meaning that it will not intervene in the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. Its participation will boil down to making declarations on the necessity to hold political negotiations ...
... cooperation of member states in their counterterrorist efforts and interaction with the Collective Security Treaty Organization?
Closer cooperation with international organizations is a must, with the SCO now having formalized relations with the CIS, ASEAN, CSTO, Organization of Economic Cooperation, Conference on Interaction and Confidence-Building Measures in Asia, as well as the UNODC and ESCAP.
The SCO comes out for coordinated approaches to countering terrorism, interaction with international and regional ...
