Aleinik: NATO will eventually see the need to build contacts with the CSTO

Sooner or later NATO will come to understand that it needs to build contacts with the CSTO, reads the address of Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of Belarus Sergei Aleinik to participants of the conference “Collective Security in a New Era: Experience and Prospects of the CSTO” that is taking place at the Moscow headquarters of the Valdai Discussion Club with the support of the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs on 9 February, BelTA has learned.

The address of the deputy foreign minister was read out by Belarus' Permanent and Plenipotentiary Representative to the CSTO Vyacheslav Remenchik. “The CSTO stands open for dialogue, which is not the case with NATO that is evading dialogue with our organization. There was no clear response to the open appeal of our foreign ministers to their counterparts from the NATO member states in 2019. This is a flawed logic that does not contribute to strengthening security in the region. I am sure that sooner or later the alliance will come to understand the need to maintain contacts with the CSTO whose role in maintaining security in the Eurasian space is steadily increasing,” the diplomat said.

“The CSTO's role in normalizing the situation in Kazakhstan has become a clear example of this, as it showed the whole world our unity in the face of modern challenges and threats and the CSTO's significant capabilities, peacekeeping potential, ability and readiness to quickly and effectively respond to crisis situations,” Sergei Aleinik stressed.

He informed that the following week the UN Security Council will discuss the interaction of the CSTO and the United Nations. “It is important to communicate to the UN Security Council member states detailed information, assessments and conclusions regarding the role of the CSTO in neutralizing the aggravated threats on Kazakhstan's territory, restoring peace and stability in the country. We believe that this meeting should contribute to and speed up integration of the CSTO forces into the UN international peacekeeping system and create conditions for joint peacekeeping activities of the UN and the CSTO. This is what Belarus suggested during its chairmanship back in 2011,” the deputy foreign minister noted.