About the CSTO Parliamentary Assembly

The Parliamentary Assembly of the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO PA) is the Statutory body of the CSTO interparliamentary cooperation.
The Parliamentary Assembly consists of parliamentary delegations of the CSTO member states, the number of which, according to the Temporary Regulation on the CSTO PA, is determined by the Parliament/Chamber of Parliament of the CSTO member state.

The CSTO PA adopts model legislative acts aimed at regulating legal relations within the CSTO competence, as well as recommendations on approximation of the CSTO Member States’ legislation and its harmonization with the provisions of international treaties concluded by these states within the CSTO framework. To this end, the Assembly adopts a corresponding Action Plan on Approximation and Harmonization of National Legislation of the CSTO Member States for a certain period.

The CSTO PA discusses the cooperation between the CSTO Member States in international, political and military, legal and other areas and develops relevant recommendations, which are forwarded to the Collective Security Council, other CSTO bodies and national parliaments.

The Assembly conducts parliamentary monitoring of the military and political situation in the CSTO regions of collective security and observation of joint exercises of the CSTO Collective Rapid Deployment Forces (Troops). Representatives of the CSTO PA take part in monitoring presidential and parliamentary elections at the invitation of the authorized bodies of the CSTO Member States.

The Assembly also interacts and cooperates with international parliamentary and other organizations in accordance with its objectives.

The Parliamentary Assembly of the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO PA) is the statutory body of interparliamentary cooperation of the CSTO.
The Parliamentary Assembly consists of the CSTO Member States’ parliamentary delegations whose size is determined by the parliament/chamber of parliament of a CSTO Member State according to the CSTO PA Provisional Regulations.

Also taking part in the Assembly’s work are observers who have the right to attend public meetings, receive their materials, speak on issues under discussion and make proposals but not participate in voting.

The Parliamentary Assembly’s activities are organized by its Chairperson and Council.

The CSTO PA’s working bodies are standing commissions, the Coordination Council of Chairpersons of Committees (Commissions) on Defence and Security of the Parliaments of the CSTO Member States under the CSTO PA Council, the Expert Advisory Board and the Legal Centre for Information and Analysis.

The Secretariat, headed by the Executive Secretary of the Parliamentary Assembly, is responsible for organizational, technical and other support to the Parliamentary Assembly’s activities.

In 1999, the Council of the Inter-Parliamentary Assembly of the Commonwealth of Independent States adopted a special decision according to which the parliamentary delegations representing the IPA CIS Member Nations participating in the Collective Security Treaty (CST) began to consider legal issues of this treaty’s implementation within the IPA CIS. The CIS Interparliamentary Assembly’s status as the parliamentary institution of the Collective Security Treaty was formalized in 2000 during a session of the CST Collective Security Council (Bishkek, Kyrgyz Republic), when the IPA CIS in the CST format was assigned to develop model laws and recommendations to unify and harmonize the CST Member States’ legislation. On November 23, 2001, members of the Council of the IPA CIS Member Nations participating in the CST adopted, at their first meeting, the Legal Support Programme to the Key Action Plan for Establishing a Collective Security System of the States – Participants to the Collective Security Treaty for 2001–2005. The Programme was approved by the chairpersons of the CST Collective Security Council and the IPA CIS Council and became the basis of the parliamentarians’ work until 2005 and was successfully implemented.

The CIS Inter-Parliamentary Assembly in the CST format mainly worked in the form of regular meetings of the members of the Council of IPA CIS Member Nations participating in the CST and the IPA CIS Standing Commission on Defence and Security in the CST format. Interaction between the administrative bodies of the IPA CIS Council and the CST, exchange of information between them, cooperation in developing draft documents aimed at strengthening the collective security of the CST Member States have been established. In addition, groups of deputies from the IPA CIS Member Nations participating in the CST studied the military and political situation in all collective security regions (Central Asia in March 2001, Caucasus in October 2004, Western Europe in September 2005).
Considering the necessity of adapting the Treaty to regional and international security dynamics and in order to counter new challenges and threats, on May 14, 2002, the Moscow session of the CST decided to turn the Treaty into a full-fledged international organization, the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO).

On June 23, 2006, the Minsk session of the CSTO Collective Security Council determined the necessity of developing the CSTO parliamentary dimension within the CIS Inter-Parliamentary Assembly to harmonize national legislations, develop model laws to address the CSTO charter tasks and organize cooperation on international and regional security issues. At a meeting on November 16, 2006, based on this decision of the CSTO Collective Security Council and on the Convention on the Inter-Parliamentary Assembly of Member Nations of the Commonwealth of Independent States, chairpersons of the parliaments of the CIS Member Nations – Members to the CSTO adopted a decision to establish the Parliamentary Assembly of the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO PA). Boris Gryzlov, Chairman of the State Duma of the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation of the 5th convocation, was elected Chairman of the CSTO PA.

From May 2012 to 2016, Sergei Naryshkin, Chairman of the State Duma of the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation of the 6th convocation, was the CSTO PA Chairman.

On November 24, 2016, Vyacheslav Volodin, Chairman of the State Duma of the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation of the 7th convocation, was elected the CSTO PA Chairman.

On November 5, 2019, Vyacheslav Volodin was reelected Chairman of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Collective Security Treaty Organization.

The official symbol of the CSTO is the CSTO flag, which is a rectangular blue cloth with the CSTO emblem at its centre (a silver-plated blue shield in the form of a quadrangular fortress, with silver rivets around the edges and a golden ball on it, framed by a golden laurel and oak wreath).

The Parliamentary Assembly of the Collective Security Treaty Organization has the following awards:

Certificate of Appreciation of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Collective Security Treaty Organization

Medal for Strengthening Parliamentary Cooperation within the CSTO