CSTO: one-man show

Today's meeting of the  Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) in Moscow, which is the open to the public part of the event, revealed the differences of its members in their views on security issues, geopolitical orientation and the situation in the region.

The war in Ukraine actually played the role of an indicator of relations between members, and most importantly the relationship of all members to Russia, whose voluntaristic policy towards Ukraine strengthened the understanding of the members of the organization about the need to distance themselves from the unpredictable and dangerous Moscow.

None of the participants in the meeting, with the exception of Belarus President Alexander Lukashenko, spoke about the situation in Ukraine and did not support Moscow's actions. Even Russian President Vladimir Putin casually mentioned Ukraine twice, unreasonably claiming that Nazism in Ukraine was elevated to the rank of state policy, also saying that he would inform the CSTO members behind closed doors about "combat work" in Ukraine.

All participants in the meeting felt uncomfortable with the sham nature of the meeting, where Putin did not know how to justify the aggression against Ukraine, and the heads of the three Central Asian countries spoke about the threat from Afghanistan, as if it was really knocking on their door.

We disagreed on the threat from the West. Lukashenko and Putin developed this topic, although Putin appeared to be more restrained in this matter. For example, regarding the entry of Sweden and Finland, he noted that this is their choice and Russia's reaction will depend on the degree of deployment of NATO infrastructure in Finland.

All other participants did not touch upon the topic of the Western threat, thereby making it clear that they did not agree with Moscow and Minsk in their views and approaches on this issue.

The presiding Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan completely out of place complained about the CSTO for the supply of weapons to Azerbaijan and the lack of support of the Armenian people in the 44-day war. This dissatisfaction was met with contemptuous glances and a willingness to say something impartial in response.

In general, the anniversary meeting left a depressing impression, the meeting participants, depressed and demoralized under the pressure of the Ukrainian events, put forward impractical, repeated from year to year, non-binding proposals to strengthen interaction between the CSTO member countries and its secretariat.

Depressed by the reaction of the audience, Pashinyan announced the adoption of certain documents and statements after a closed meeting. But no matter what the contents of these documents are, they will be dictated by the Kremlin to further its own agenda. All participants, especially in the light of Ukrainian events, understand that they are just a decoration for a one-man show.