Belarus Defense Minister: CSTO Can Drive New Eurasian Security Architecture

MINSK, June 3. /TASS/. The Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) could become the driving force behind efforts to establish a new international security system, as there is a call in Eurasia for it, Belarusian Defense Minister Viktor Khrenin said, addressing a meeting of the CSTO Council of Defense Ministers in Moscow.

"We are capable of not only giving an adequate response to modern threats and challenges, but also becoming the driving force behind the process of establishing a new international security architecture as there is a call in Eurasia for it," the Belarusian Defense Ministry quoted Khrenin as saying.

Minsk has repeatedly warned its CSTO allies of European armies rearming on a wide scale, increasing their capacity to deploy coalition troops to NATO’s eastern flank, and maintaining a forward military presence in Poland and the Baltic states, the Belarusian defense chief recalled.

"NATO member countries’ aggregate military expenditures have risen to a record annual level of over $1.6 trillion and are still growing. Western political elites and affiliated defense corporations view war as a prerequisite for internal consolidation and sustainable profit-making. This means they will not abandon this method of addressing interstate differences," Khrenin maintained. "These and other challenges facing our organization require unconditional consolidation, rapid decision-making, and the ability to act as a single body," he underlined.