MINSK, 3 March (BelTA) – A muster involving representatives of the national agencies of the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) member states, which are authorized to interact with the CSTO Crisis Response Center, took place in the CSTO Joint Staff on 3 March, BelTA has learned.
Chief of the CSTO Joint Staff Anatoly Sidorov noted that the format of such meetings allows discussing matters of current interest and defining avenues of future work for the sake of developing interstate information interaction within the framework of the Collective Security Treaty Organization. “The purpose of the muster is to improve information interaction between the CSTO Crisis Response Center and the national agencies in charge of interacting with the center,” he said.
Chief of the CSTO Crisis Response Center Arsen Rakhmanov stated that last year's events demonstrated the importance of a timely response to crisis situations and other challenges and threats, including in conditions of the coronavirus infection. “In those conditions the CSTO Crisis Response Center demonstrated its effectiveness and the demand for the center. The center's technical capabilities made joint events in the organization's format possible,” he said. The main ones included sessions of various CSTO bodies, a strategic command post rehearsal, and other events arranged by working bodies and auxiliary bodies.
Participants of the muster discussed the organization of advanced training for officials of the CSTO Joint Staff and national bodies, which are authorized to interact with the CSTO Crisis Response Center. In 2020 advanced training opportunities became available in the Military Academy of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Russia (career enhancement) and in the National Nuclear Research University (information security). A system of bilateral training sessions has been tested and introduced for the sake of improving training levels of duty crews. Joint training sessions are held together with duty crews to practice actions during crisis situations. Apart from that, separate training sessions are arranged for duty officers of the CSTO Crisis Response Center to practice their response to crisis situations (emergencies). Plans have been made to hold joint training sessions with the defense ministries of the countries located in the same collective security region in 2021.
Participants of the muster discussed matters of current interest concerning the crisis response system and sketched out the main ways to improve information interaction within the framework of the Collective Security Treaty Organization.
Belarus was represented by officers of the army's central command post.
