MINSK, 8 June (BelTA) - The CSTO has built an adequate mechanism of response to challenges and threats, State Secretary of the Security Council of Belarus Aleksandr Volfovich said at a meeting of Belarusian President Aleksandr Lukashenko with the secretaries of Security Councils of the CSTO member states in Minsk on 8 June, BelTA has learned.
According to the state secretary, for more than 20 years the committee has been developing measures and coordinating the work of the CSTO member states against international terrorism, extremism, drugs and weapons trafficking, transnational organized crime and illegal migration. “Over the period we have managed to build an adequate mechanism of response to the abovementioned challenges and threats. A normative base has been adopted, and subsidiary bodies and working groups have been set up to adopt coordinated measures to combat new challenges and threats, as well as develop interaction with law enforcement bodies and special services,” he said.
Over the past 20 years, thanks to the joint activities the CSTO secret services prevented 19 terrorist attacks and detained more than 500 persons involved in terrorist activities. Through collective efforts, more than 420 tonnes of narcotic, psychotropic and other potent substances were seized, approximately 6,500 criminal drug gangs were neutralized and more than 250 channels for illegal migration were eliminated.
The CSTO states have been recently coordinating their actions in the area of information security. Biological security issues are also on the agenda. “We predict that these are not the last areas of collective defense. Present-day challenges and threats are rapidly transforming. They are acquiring new hybrid forms, which demand adequate and timely response,” Aleksandr Volfovich said.
According to him, the CSTO countries will hold a number of operations this year, including Mercenary (to fight terrorism), Nelegal, and also Proxy, aimed at detecting cybercrimes.
