Share the power: Russia is ready to equip the CSTO countries with its weapons

Vladimir Putin, speaking at the CSTO summit in Bishkek on November 27, proposed launching a large-scale program to equip the Collective Forces of the CSTO with Russian weapons. This is very important for some countries of the organization, in particular Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan, experts believe. The summit participants adopted a final declaration, which fixed common approaches on key issues on the international and regional agenda. The main topics of the meeting include the fight against extremism, terrorism and external threats. The Russian president called for joint preparation of a new CSTO anti-terrorism strategy.

Supplies of Russian weapons to the CSTO countries

On November 27, a meeting of the CSTO member states was held in Bishkek. For this reason, security measures have been tightened in the city and traffic has been temporarily restricted on several streets. The welcome banners addressed to the Russian delegation and Vladimir Putin, who has been on a state visit to Kyrgyzstan since December 25, were promptly replaced with greetings from the CSTO members. Local schools and universities have temporarily switched to online learning.

The summit was attended by the leaders of five countries — Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia and Tajikistan. The only thing missing was Armenia, which had previously frozen its membership in the organization. Nevertheless, Yerevan informed in advance that it was not against the adoption of the agreed documents in Bishkek.

The meeting started in a narrow format and was closed to the press. During the extended meeting, issues relevant to the organization's participants were on the agenda — the fight against terrorism, extremism, and coordination of measures to counter external threats.

During his speech, Vladimir Putin proposed launching a large-scale program to equip the Collective Forces of the CSTO with Russian weapons, "which have proven their effectiveness during real military operations."

The Collective Forces include units of the Armed Forces of all member countries of the association, their total strength is more than 30 thousand people.

— Now the members of the organization have completely different, outdated weapons systems that still remain from the Soviet period. Of course, Kazakhstan and Belarus are more actively modernized countries, but Tajikistan or Kyrgyzstan, as well as Armenia, are countries that obviously lack modern means of communication, intelligence, counter—terrorism equipment, and drones," Daria Saprynskaya, a researcher at the Institute of Oriental Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences, explained to Izvestia.

Moreover, Russian equipment has already proven its reliability during combat operations.

"The implementation of such a program will significantly increase the overall combat readiness of the national contingents and collective forces of the CSTO," Alexander Korolev, Deputy Director of the Central Research Institute of Higher School of Economics, added in an interview with Izvestia.

CSTO chairmanship passes to Russia

From January 1, 2026, the CSTO chairmanship will pass to Russia. Vladimir Putin, noting this fact, said that the Russian Federation "will do everything to maintain continuity in the main areas of cooperation within the CSTO and develop cooperation" between the countries of the association. Among the important tasks requiring attention, he noted the importance of the CSTO's technological leadership in the military sphere. In particular, we are talking about expanding cooperation between enterprises of the military-industrial complex. According to him, the development of the CSTO aviation forces and air defense system requires special attention.

Russia plans to pay attention to the training of military units and special services, for example, to hold the next stages of regular exercises "Interaction", "Echelon", "Search". The Russian presidency will also focus on the fight against terrorism and drug trafficking.

— During the chairmanship, we plan to begin joint preparation of a new CSTO anti-terrorist strategy. We will strive to do everything necessary to further resolutely counter extremism," Vladimir Putin said.

The CSTO members will work to identify and eliminate international terrorist groups and their cells, as well as to cut off their financing channels. The anti-drug operation Channel will also continue with the involvement of interested international participants.

— The anti-terrorist strategy is one of the most relevant topics at the summit. We need to understand that terrorism is not just about recruiting and searching for people. Now all this is being implemented using cyber tools and social networks, so this issue needs to be addressed comprehensively, with the participation of all participants in the organization, Daria Saprynskaya is sure.

The unstable situation in Afghanistan and the border regions is a fertile ground for extremist organizations, which requires coordination of the CSTO's efforts to strengthen security, particularly in Central Asia.

"Strengthening the Tajik border is one of the priority areas of work in the CSTO, and the new strategy will help coordinate efforts to prevent the infiltration of militants," believes Alexander Korolev.

Russia and other CSTO countries are interested in improving legislation in the field of combating illegal migration so that citizens of the organization's member states feel calm and safe, Vladimir Putin noted.

Information security is also among the most important priorities of the organization.

Risks from NATO

During the summit, Kyrgyz President Sadyr Japarov awarded the honorary badge of the organization of the first degree to the Secretary General of the CSTO, representative of Kazakhstan Imangali Tasmagambetov. He will leave this position at the end of the year, and the representative of Kyrgyzstan, Taalatbek Masadykov, will take his place from January 1.

The leaders of the CSTO countries signed a number of documents aimed at developing cooperation in various fields, including countering illegal migration. A final declaration was also adopted, where the parties agreed on common approaches to key issues on the international and regional agenda.

— It was noted that the current geopolitical transformation and changes in the international security system have a direct impact on the processes in the CSTO region. The member states are particularly concerned about modern challenges and threats, many of which are hybrid in nature," Imangali Tasmagambetov said after the meeting.

Of course, the foreign policy situation remains one of the main risks. The CSTO countries expressed concern about the advancement of the organization of military infrastructure of other military alliances to the borders of the states.

This is obviously about the actions of NATO. President of Belarus Alexander Lukashenko compared the situation on the western borders with a "besieged fortress."

— Military risks and threats are increasing along the perimeter of the CSTO borders, especially on the western flank of the organization, where, it would seem, an adequate and stable situation should be maintained. The situation is similar to the besieged fortress in which Belarus lives today," he said.

Taking into account the geopolitical situation, Vladimir Putin proposed to the CSTO countries to hold an international expert forum on security architecture in Eurasia in 2026.