MOSCOW, March 5. /TASS/: Russia stands for continued strengthening of interaction within the Collective Security Treaty Organization, a post-Soviet security bloc, to counter new challenges and threats, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said on Saturday at a news conference following talks with his Kyrgyz counterpart Ruslan Kazakbaev.
Lavrov pointed out that the sides paid much attention to issues of enhancing security and stability in Central Asia, "especially in the context of the consequences that are still observed in this region after the hasty withdrawal of the United States and its allies from Afghanistan." "And also in the context of the experience that both our countries and the CSTO as an organization have gained from the events in Kazakhstan in January 2022, when at the request of Kazakhstan's president, all CSTO members promptly agreed to send a peacekeeping contingent to stabilize the situation and eliminate the threats caused by the attempted terrorist attack on the country," he added.
"This, by the way, is another reason to continue to step up our cooperation within the CSTO and increase the effectiveness of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization in countering new challenges and threats," Lavrov stressed.
