"If Russia falls, then the CSTO members' place will be beneath those rubbles" Lukashenko touches upon common fears during Yerevan summit

The future of the CSTO depends on the success of the Russian "special military operation" carried out in Ukraine.

As the Belarussian BELTA reported, President Aleksandr Lukashenko of Belarus expressed this opinion during his attendance at the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) summit in Yerevan on November 23, referring to it as a thesis that is circulating in the mass media landscape.

"If Russia succeeds, the CSTO will live. If God forbid, it does not succeed, the CSTO will cease to exist. And many hotheads in our countries started discussing this problem. I feel that we have reached a common opinion: if God forbid, Russia falls, then our place will be beneath those rubbles", the president grimly predicted during his speech in Yerevan.

Nevertheless, he did highlight, that "we" are not intending to leave the political or military arena by saying "the CSTO will exist, and nobody will fall anywhere. But we need unity".

He did note, though, that the North Atlantic alliance has finally consolidated the anti-Russian and anti-Belarussian vectors.

"It is high time to substantively discuss the issues of military-political cooperation and security on the CSTO stage. Their relevance grows day by day", Lukashenko urged.

According to the Belarussian leader, the North Atlantic Alliance finally consolidated the anti-Russian and anti-Belarus vectors of the organization’s activities for the foreseeable future and cut off all contacts on its own initiative, BELTA reported.

"Under the disguise of halting Russia’s supposedly aggressive steps and that of its allies, a coordinated build-up of US military presence and that of other NATO countries is happening at the Western border of the CSTO. Meaning at our borders. The West continues to deploy troops, weapons and military equipment to NATO’s Eastern flank. The intensity of events held for operational and battle training increases. What is this, if not the development of a potential theatre for military operations?".

Lukashenko further noted, that the recently adopted decision of deploying Belarussian and Russian regional troops, taken because of the previously mentioned developments, was a natural reaction to those challenges.

In Yerevan, President Lukashenko called for the strengthening of the military elements within the organization.

He stressed, that "The military aspect of the CSTO is an integral component of the organization around which it was created 20 years ago. Priority tasks in this sphere include increasing the readiness of CSTO troops to carry out their mission tasks, as well as strengthening the military-technical cooperation among member states", according to BELTA.

Lukashenko also remarked that the development of the CSTO’s military wing also depends greatly on the coordination of the member states' politics.

Caliber.Az recalls, that the rotating chairmanship of the CSTO has been handed over from Armenia to Belarus for 2023 at the summit.