Russian Security Council Secretary calls for joint biosecurity approaches at CSTO meeting

Moscow, Nov 17 (Bueaeu) Russian Security Council Secretary Nikolai Patrushev on Tuesday called on members of the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) to come up with joint approaches for maintaining biological security. Earlier in the day, Patrushev spoke at the opening of the CSTO security council secretaries meeting, which is taking place online. He cited the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic as one of the most acute modern challenges, which is straining the world’s political and economic systems. The Russian security official stressed the need for information exchange, various forms of assistance as well as consultations on medical treatment of citizens.

“We will have to have a comprehensive analysis of the pandemic, work out collective approaches to cooperation within the CSTO framework in the area of maintaining biological security,” Patrushev said, according to the Russian Security Council. The security council secretary also noted that the current meeting would be discussing the pressing issues of counteracting challenges and threats to the collective security of member countries. “Following the meeting, we will put forward over ten documents for consideration of the heads of our states during the next session of the CSTO Collective Security Council, including two medium-term documents: an anti-drug strategy of the CSTO member states for 2021-2025, a plan of military cooperation development by the CSTO member states for 2021-2025,” Patrushev added. As the COVID-19 epidemic has unfolded, many countries have adopted severe restrictions to stop the virus from spreading, putting pressure on their economy as well as social and political systems in the process.