CSTO PA’s legislative activity can spur the establishment of a legal framework for an indivisible Eurasian security space

In his speech at the 10th St Petersburg International Legal Forum, Sergei Pospelov, Executive Secretary of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Collective Security Treaty Organization, spoke about the activities of the CSTO Parliamentary Assembly amid evolving challenges and security threats.
“A hybrid war is waged against Russia, Belarus, their allies and historical partners. This is also a war over the minds of citizens. The US and its satellites are increasingly shifting the battlefield to the Internet, to include markets, trade and transport routes,” the CSTO PA Executive Secretary said, stressing that “in these conditions, countries around the world, including those belonging to the CSTO, USRB, CIS, EAEU, SCO and BRICS, urgently need to ensure joint protection of national interests and freedom.”
In addition, against the backdrop of growing Western sanctions and the crisis situation near the borders of the CSTO, it is clearly evident that true independence includes not only the political and territorial, but also the legal component.
The CSTO PA Executive Secretary said that this was what the CSTO Parliamentary Assembly had been doing since its inception in 2006 by establishing legal conditions to provide collective and national security of the CSTO Member States.
This goal is mainly achieved through model lawmaking, with the means of achieving it being model laws, recommendations and other model legal acts.
At the same time, it is necessary to take into account the fact that the CSTO PA lawmaking activity is carried out exclusively on the basis of the CSTO Charter, which provides for equal participation of the parties in the work on policy papers and draft legal acts and joint consensus-based decision-making.
Therefore, Sergei Pospelov stressed, in contrast to the European top-down coercive approach, CSTO’s legal framework is initially based on democratic principles of development and ensuring the legal sovereignty of the Organization’s Member States.
Sergei Pospelov reminded, “The Assembly’s work is aimed at strengthening the efforts to approximate and harmonize the national legislation of the CSTO Member States on defence, military development and security. To date, model legislative framework of the CSTO includes 72 acts. Sergei Pospelov noted, “The overwhelming majority of these documents has been prepared with the direct participation of relevant authorities and civil society institutions and is aimed at implementing specific decisions made by the heads of the CSTO Member States at the meetings of the CSTO Collective Security Council.”
Moreover, the CSTO Parliamentary Assembly actively promotes synchronization of the ratification procedures for 59 agreements signed within the Collective Security Treaty Organization. 56 agreements were ratified, with procedures for three others having been partially completed.
Along with the issues of ratification of international treaties, the Assembly develops recommendations to bring national legislation of CSTO Member States in line with these treaties, as well as decisions of the CSTO Collective Security Council.
The Assembly’s lawmaking is based on proactive approach principle, analysis of national legislation and constant monitoring of the military and political situation on the external borders of the CSTO area of responsibility. Given the continuing potential for exacerbation of conflicts both in the CIS space and globally, the Assembly has intensified its work on improving the regulatory framework for ensuring the military component and peacekeeping potential of the CSTO.