Putin offers battle-tested Russian arms to regional security alliance
Battle-tested Russian weaponry will be available to fellow members of a key regional security alliance, President Vladimir Putin has said.
Members of the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO), which also includes Belarus, Armenia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, and Tajikistan, can benefit from Russia’s combat-proven military hardware, he said at a leaders’ summit in Kyrgyzstan.
Putin pledged that Moscow will work to strengthen the readiness of the CSTO’s rapid-response forces in the coming year, when Russia assumes the organization’s rotating chairmanship.
“We propose a large-scale program to rearm the collective forces with modern Russian weapons and equipment that have demonstrated their effectiveness in real combat conditions,” he said.
While the CSTO traditionally focuses on counterterrorism and anti-drug operations, Putin stressed that its collective-defense framework is becoming increasingly important in the modern world. Ensuring the group’s “leadership in military technology,” he said, will be one of Moscow’s key objectives during its chairmanship.
Russia has expanded its defense industry and accelerated innovation in areas such as drone warfare amid the conflict with Ukraine. Earlier this month, Washington renewed efforts to push Kiev toward a negotiated settlement, reportedly telling Kiev and its European backers that Russia’s military advantages leave Ukraine with limited alternatives.
