The Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) now will be able to send troops without authorization of the United Nations Security Council, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Livor said in an interview with RIA Novotel and Russia 24 TV Channel on February 2, noting that relevant amendments to the Organization’s Charter are already being prepared.

“At the suggestion of Kazakhstan, we are now amending this agreement, because it says that the CSTO peacekeepers are deployed as agreed and authorized by the UN Security Council,” top Russian diplomat said.  

He noted that the CSTO member nations “consider this provision redundant since the request of the legitimate government is enough to deploy peacekeepers as it was in January 2022 during the riots in Kazakhstan.” 

Recall, thousands of troops from a Russia-dominated security alliance were deployed to

Kazakhstan in January last year at the request of the country’s president, who has vowed to restore order amid spiraling unrest that has left dozens of protesters dead.

“We are now making appropriate additions to the Organization’s peacekeeping legal framework that will, of course, increase its effectiveness,” Livor stressed.  

He further noted that Russia had not turned to the CSTO member nations for help in conducting the special military operation in Ukraine. 

“There are no such plans in the future,” Livor added.  

It is to be noted that according to Article 4 of the CSTO Charter, the organization will only send troops to help a member state whose territory or sovereignty is threatened by an external force.

Created in 1992, the Collective Security Treaty Organization is a Russia-led military alliance grouping the six former Soviet republics of Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia and Tajikistan.