MINSK, 14 February (BelTA) - Destructive activities by the United States and Western countries remain the main source of threats to military security in the CSTO area of responsibility, Chief of the CSTO Joint Staff Colonel General Andrei Serdyukov said at a news briefing, BelTA has learned.
"The military and political situation in the area of responsibility of the Collective Security Treaty Organization can be described as complicated. The destructive activities by the United States and Western countries remain the main source of threat to military security. We see the international security architecture based on the UN Charter principles crumbling and other norms of international law violated. The international arms control, disarmament and non-proliferation regimes have virtually ceased to function," Andrei Serdyukov said.
The chief of the CSTO Joint Staff noted that all this provokes numerous conflicts along the perimeter of the CSTO zone of responsibility, leads to the growth of internal political and inter-ethnic contradictions between individual states, and contributes to the formation of a belt of instability around them.
"The main sources of risks and challenges to military security in the Eastern European area of collective security include the continuous political, diplomatic, financial, economic and informational pressure from the West, NATO further eastward expansion, the ongoing militarization of Poland and the Baltic states, the military buildup of the coalition forces and national armed forces of NATO countries, including those bordering on the CSTO member states, development of the NATO military infrastructure in Europe and growing U.S. military activity in the CSTO area of responsibility," Andrei Serdyukov stressed. He also drew attention to the clash of interests between the West and the East on the territory of Ukraine.
