The President of Belarus, Alexander Lukashenko, emphasized at the CSTO summit in Bishkek that the organization must respond to the growing militarization of European countries, which are actively shifting their economies to military tracks.
“European countries are increasing their investments in the defense sector and ramping up arms production. We in the CSTO cannot remain indifferent to these changes,” noted Lukashenko, commenting on the situation during a closed-door meeting of the CSTO Collective Security Council. These words were recorded by the BelTA agency.
Lukashenko also highlighted the need for constant updates to the CSTO's approaches in response to changing security challenges so that the organization can effectively respond to threats. “We have a system that encompasses the military component, crisis management tools, as well as the fight against terrorism and drug trafficking,” he added. The head of Belarus noted that cooperation in the field of cybersecurity is also actively developing and expressed gratitude to the Kyrgyz side for organizing a conference on this issue.
In the president's opinion, the CSTO retains its importance in the current security conditions in the Eurasian space. He emphasized that the relevance of the organization is confirmed by the active development of all its key areas — military-political, military-technical, and the fight against transnational threats. Lukashenko also noted the importance of work on improving the CSTO's conceptual documents and expressed hope for their further development in the near future.
