Anatoly Vyborny: CSTO’s Military Component is Becoming Increasingly Important

Anatoly Vyborny: CSTO’s Military Component is Becoming Increasingly Important

Anatoly Vyborny, Chairman of the CSTO PA Council’s Expert Advisory Board, deputy Chairman of the State Duma Committee on Security and Corruption Control, opened the CSTO PA panel discussion at the 2026 St. Petersburg International Legal Forum (*SPILF*).

"The world is rapidly changing, and with it, challenges and threats are transforming just as quickly. Economic and information wars, sanctions and political pressure have become the new normal for many. Even pathogens have become weapons, not to mention environmental or energy threats. And in some countries, terrorism has essentially been elevated to the status of state policy. In this context, the CSTO is becoming increasingly important— specifically, the structure of its military component. What does it look like today, and how will it evolve in the future? Is there a place for unmanned systems, new types of weapons, new command-and-control systems, electronic warfare, military medicine and biological security?" Anatoly Vyborny questioned.

According to him, in the field of security the Organization is focusing on the use of new technologies, including AI, since their rapid development is leading to advancements in both cognitive operations and cybercrime.

"Now we are facing a new reality—where the criminal may be in one country, the server in another, and the victim in a third one.All of this has formed a strong need to develop both model legislation within the CSTO framework and national legislation. We are talking about a development that will, on one hand, go beyond a solely defensive strategy, which involves responding to various challenges and threats—for example, to the recruitment of our children through social media into terrorist and other criminal organizations. And on the other hand, accelerate the process of integrating model legislation into national laws," the head of the CSTO PA Council’s Expert Advisory Board emphasized.

The parliamentarian noted that now the international community’s sympathies lie not with the concept of a so-called "global strike," but with a global cooperation agenda and a mutually beneficial, just and multipolar world order. Namely one that entails viewing defence and security issues as single, indivisible categories—both de jure and de facto.