CSTO offers several options for its role in UN peacekeeping
- Written by Interfax
MOSCOW. Nov 28 (Interfax). The Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) is prepared to join UN-led peacekeeping operations all over the world.
"I think that all options are possible. First and foremost, they certainly include peacekeeping operations within the area controlled by the CSTO, should such a need arise, especially because it is our direct responsibility," Russia's envoy to the CSTO Igor Lyakin-Frolov told Interfax.
"But we do not rule out that in the future CSTO peacekeeping contingents could join field missions conducted under UN auspices, as the European Union, the African Union and other regional organizations are doing today," he said.
But first of all it is necessary to agree on practical mechanisms of peacekeeping cooperation between the CSTO and the UN, Lyakin-Frolov said.
"Before using the CSTO's peacekeeping potential in the UN's interest and in accordance with a UN mandate, there is a need to take a whole range of organizational measures, which include certifying CSTO peacekeepers' specialization by the UN Secretariat, improving the compatibility of weapons, military hardware, command and communication systems, etc. We are ready for it and are taking all of the required measures," he said.
