Collective Security Treaty Organisation (CSTO) | UPSC

Collective Security Treaty Organisation (CSTO) | UPSC

      HEADLINES:

Russia kicks off Caspian war games

      WHY IN NEWS:

Amid Azerbaijan-Armenia conflict, Moscow says they pose no threat to any State

SYLLABUS COVERED: GS 2 : International grouping : India and other nation & institutions

      LEARNING: 

For PRELIMS we thinks operations of CSTO are very important . Take your Prelims copy and note them down .Just like Amber box question in the last Prelims .

For MAINS go through weaknesses of this organisation . Let us dive in now !

      ISSUE: 

• The Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) is a Russia-led military alliance of seven former Soviet states that was created in 2002.

• It has been described by political scientists as the Eurasian counterpart of NATO, which has 29 member states, while the CSTO has just six.
• The organization supports arms sales and manufacturing as well as military training and exercises.

HEADQUARTERS

Moscow , Russia.

MEMBER NATIONS

• Current CSTO members are Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, the Russian Federation and Tajikistan.
• Afghanistan and Serbia hold observer status in the CSTO.

• In 1993, Azerbaijan, Belarus and Georgia joined the Treaty.
• The Treaty came into force on April 20, 1994 for five-year period.
• Six member-states (except Azerbaijan, Georgia and Uzbekistan) signed a protocol renewing the Treaty for another five-year period in 1999.
• It consists of Permanent and Plenipotentiary representatives.
• Uzbekistan again became a CSTO member in 2006 but then withdrew its membership in 2012.

WHAT DOES CSTO MEMBERSHIP PROVIDE?

• While CSTO membership means that member states are barred from joining other military alliances, limiting, for example, their relationship with NATO.

• Most importantly, membership presumes certain key security assurances – the most significant of which is deterring military aggression by third countries.
• In the CSTO, aggression against one signatory is perceived as aggression against all.
• It however remains unclear whether this feature works in practice.

STRUCTURE OF THE CSTO

• The Collective Security Council (CSC) is the highest body of the CSTO and comprises the heads of member states.

• The Council of Ministers of Foreign Affairs is the executive and advisory body of the CSTO.
• They coordinate member states’ activities in foreign policy.

• The Committee of Secretaries coordinate member states in ensuring national security.
• The Permanent Council coordinates member states in implementing decisions made by CSTO bodies in periods between CSC sessions.
• The Secretariat is a permanent working body of the CSTO that provides organizational, informational, analytical, and consultative support to the various CSTO bodies.
• The Joint Staff is another permanent working body which prepares proposals on military activities.

GOVERNING COUNCIL

• The Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) was established on May 14, 2002.
• The Charter of the Organization was adopted on October 7, 2002.
• The CSTO received the status of observer at the United Nations General Assembly on December 2, 2004.

• The Council is composed of the Heads of the Member States.
• The Chairman of the Council is the head of the country holding the Chairmanship of the Organization.

DELIBERATIONS

• The Council discusses the fundamental issues of the Organization’s activities and makes decisions aimed at the realization of its goals and objectives.
• The council also ensures the coordination and joint activities of the Member States to achieve these goals.

THE SUBSIDIARY BODIES OF THE CSTO

• Interstate Commission for Military Economic Cooperation discusses and drafts recommendations aimed at ensuring multilateral military-economic cooperation in a number of areas.

• To manage the day-to-day activities of the Commission an Interstate Commission for Military-Economic Cooperation Secretary is appointed from the staff of the CSTO Secretariat.

THE WORKING GROUPS OF THE CSTO

• The Working Group on Afghanistan
• The Military Committee
• Working Group on Information Policy and Security.

Under the aegis of the Organization the following operations are conducted:

• “CANAL’’ operation : Anti-drug regional operation
• “NELEGAL” operation : To counter the illegal migration and human trafficking
• “PROXY” operation : To counter the crimes in the cyberspace
• “NAYOMNIK” operation :  To prevent the possible involvement of the citizens of CSTO member states in the terrorist activities and to eliminate the resources of the international terrorist organizations .

COLLECTIVE RAPID REACTION FORCES

• The CSTO Collective Rapid Reaction Forces were formed on February 4 2009, to address the security threats and challenges of the CSTO member states.
• On October 6, 2007 the agreement on the CSTO peacekeeping activity was signed.

• The delegations were headed by the Prime Minister, the Minister of Foreign Affairs, the Minister of Defense and the Secretary of Security Council.

      IASbhai WINDUP: 

WEAKNESSES

• While the CSTO nominally provides equal standing to member states, it was clearly conceived by Russia as a multilateral institution to project its power regionally.

• It presents a foreign policy challenge as Russian aims do not always align with other CSTO members’ interests.
• Moreover, institutional weaknesses, the organization’s inability to react to aggression by third countries on its members, points to the inefficacy of the organization.

     SOURCES:THE HINDU | Collective Security Treaty Organisation (CSTO) | UPSC

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