Moscow hosted the UN Regional Counter-Terrorism Meeting for Central Asia

The Regional High-Level Meeting "Enhancing Capacity to Prevent the Supply of Weapons to Terrorists in Central Asia" was held in Moscow, organized by the UN Counter-Terrorism Office with the participation of the Russian side.

The event was attended by Valery Semerikov, Acting Secretary General of the CSTO, Evgeny Sysoev, Head of the CIS ATT Center, Artur Golovanov, Deputy Director of the SCO RATS IC, and heads of counter-terrorism agencies from Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan. In his speech, Valery Semerikov spoke about the CSTO's annual permanent operational and preventive operations, such as "Mercenary," "Channel," "Illegal," and "Proxy," which, in addition to their main objectives, also involve systematic efforts to seize weapons and explosives. Over the past five years, these operations have resulted in the seizure of 8,374 firearms, more than 59,000 ammunition, and 2,000 kilograms of explosives from illegal circulation, as well as the initiation of 296 criminal cases.

Valery Semerikov emphasized that the effectiveness of special operations has increased due to the Organization's internal measures and closer cooperation with relevant structures of the CIS, the SCO, and the UN. "In order to enhance the coordination of efforts to counter the threats of international terrorism and illegal arms trafficking, we are focused on closer cooperation with the CIS, the SCO, and the UN, within the framework of existing agreements. In this context, on the sidelines of the International Security Forum, which was held in Moscow on June 28, we signed a Framework Document on Cooperation with the African Union Counter-Terrorism Centre," said Valery Semerikov.

The participants also discussed best practices for countering the use of small arms, improvised explosive devices, and drones for terrorist purposes.