Parlamentskaya Gazeta discussed the results of the 15 years of the CSTO PA’s work

On December 1, Parlamentskaya Gazeta hosted an online roundtable discussion titled CSTO PA’s 15 Years: What Has Been Done to Strengthen Collective Security?
The meeting was attended by parliamentarians and experts of the CSTO States who have actively participated in the Assembly’s work.
The roundtable moderator Anatoly Vyborny, Chairman of the CSTO PA Standing Commission on Defence and Security and deputy Chairman of the Committee on Security and Corruption Control of the State Duma of the Russian Federation, briefly recalled the reasons for the establishment of the CSTO and the Parliamentary Assembly, noting, “Today, one of the CSTO PA’s main functions, along with the development of model lawmaking, is the monitoring of the military and political situation in the CSTO area of responsibility.”
“It is a very serious and important area that gives us, the legislators, an opportunity to locate gaps that need to be quickly closed in order to give the leaders of our states, the commanders-in-chief, the opportunity to use legal mechanisms for prompt decision-making,” he said.
Anatoly Vyborny detailed the political component of monitoring: the participation of parliamentary delegations in monitoring the presidential and parliamentary elections in the CSTO States in order to improve the national electoral legislation.
The roundtable participants included Hakob Arshakyan, deputy Speaker of the National Assembly of the Republic of Armenia, member of the CSTO PA Standing Commission on Political Affairs and International Cooperation; Sergei Rachkov, Chairman of the Standing Committee on International Affairs and International Cooperation of the Council of the Republic of the National Assembly of Belarus; Rustam Shokhmurod, Chairman of the Committee on Law, Order, Defence and Security of the Majlisi Namoyandagon of the Majlisi Oli of the Republic of Tajikistan, Chairman of 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; Sergei Pospelov, Executive Secretary of the CSTO PA; and Khosrov Harutyunyan, Professor, former Prime Minister, former deputy of the National Assembly of Armenia and former head of the CSTO PA Standing Commission on Political Affairs and International Cooperation.