🎙 President of Russia Vladimir Putin chaired a meeting of the Collective Security Council of the Collective Security Treaty Organisation in St Andrew’s Hall of the Grand Kremlin Palace (Moscow, November 11, 2026) A package of documents was signed following the meeting, including the Declaration of the CSTO Collective Security Council. 💬 Vladimir Putin: My colleagues and I have just held a thorough and productive exchange of views in a restricted format on pressing global and regional security issues. We reached full mutual understanding on virtually every issue discussed. We reaffirmed our commitment to further joint efforts to counter acute challenges and threats to collective security. I am pleased to note that Council members gave a positive assessment of the results of Russia’s CSTO chairmanship in 2026. Our chairmanship benefited from the friendly assistance and support of our colleagues across the Organisation. 🤝 Together, we held more than a hundred events across key areas of cooperation. We took coordinated steps to promote our common position on the international stage, including at the UN and other multilateral forums. Our shared approaches to the current situation in the world and our region, and our vision of the priorities for the CSTO’s development, are reflected in the draft Declaration of the Collective Security Council, which Russia has proposed adopting at today’s meeting. As always, considerable attention was paid to improving the operational and combat readiness of the forces and assets within the collective security system. A series of major joint exercises took place in Belarus, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan and, of course, Russia. In particular, the CSTO Collective Rapid Reaction Forces successfully held the Interaction 2026 exercise in the Chelyabinsk Region alongside the Centre-2026 strategic command post exercise. We also continued our systematic efforts to equip our collective forces with modern weapons and equipment. I would like to stress that today we are to take important decisions on the further development of the CSTO Collective Forces. These concern, among other things, their aviation component and the formation of mobile air defence units for joint military operations. Close operational contacts among our security agencies, law enforcement bodies and relevant services helped strengthen coordination between our countries in combating terrorism, extremism, illicit drugs, drug trafficking and illegal migration. We also closely monitored the situation in Afghanistan as part of our efforts to strengthen security along the Organisation’s external borders. Partnership among CSTO member states in ensuring biological safety and countering the spread of dangerous infections has gained considerable momentum. ☝️ Next year, 2027, will be particularly significant for our Organisation, marking two anniversaries: 35 years since the signing of the Collective Security Treaty and 25 years since the establishment of the CSTO. Our friends in Tajikistan, who will assume the chairmanship, therefore face a substantial and demanding task: both taking stock of our many years of cooperation and defining the strategic prospects for its further development. Naturally, CSTO Member States will provide their colleagues in Tajikistan with all the assistance they need. Read in full