Ukraine solution: CSTO Peacekeepers to Eastern regions of Ukraine? Now?

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Stanislav Zas, secretary general of the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO), in an exclusive interview with Reuters’ Moscow bureau said the CSTO could dispatch peacekeepers to the general Donbass region “if there would be an international consensus for such a deployment”.

Peacekeepers could be assembled in quick order with peacekeeping contingents from Belarus, Armenia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan. and Russia.

During the operational period in Kazakhstan, the suggestion had circulated in the Ukraine region in Kiev, Donetsk City and Luhansk PR according to RINJ Women humanitarian volunteers in the region. “There was a certain amount of approval of the idea among all the parties,” said Julia, a nurse working on urban  COVID-19 vaccine campaigns.

Collective Security Treaty Organization troops completed their peacekeeping mission in Kazakhstan on Jan. 19 Official Withdrawal Ceremony Collective Security Treaty Organization troops completed their peacekeeping mission in Kazakhstan on Jan. 19. Photo Courtesy Ministry of Defence, Kazakhstan. Photo is cropped. Art/Cropping/Enhancement: Rosa Yamamoto / Feminine-Perspective Magazine

Stanislav Zas on Saturday weighed in on which measures the CSTO  could take if given the go-ahead.

Peacekeeping contingents from Armenia, Belarus, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, and Tajikistan

CSTO Peacekeeping Operation in Kazakhstan
Receiving high accolades from all parties, the peacekeeping contingents from Armenia, Belarus, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, and Tajikistan were deployed first in the capital city Nur-Sultan and were later relocated to guard Almaty which suffered the worst of the unrest. The mission numbered more than 2,000 officers and 250 units of military equipment.  Photo Courtesy CSTO. Cropped. Art/Cropping/Enhancement: Rosa Yamamoto / Feminine-Perspective Magazine

Government of Kazakhstan has said the Peacekeeping Operation in that country “go down in the history of the organization” as excellent.

“The deployment of CSTO peacekeeping potential in Kazakhstan was timely and effective, and the mechanisms of interagency and interstate interaction and coordination within the organization were practically perfected,” said Olzhas Khusainov, colonel and the head of the international cooperation department at the Kazakh Defense Ministry.

He noted that the CSTO mission in Kazakhstan will “go down in the history of the organization.”

Officials of the CSTO explained that this was the first time the CSTO exercised its peacekeeping provision set out in in the Collective Security Treaty as of May 15, 1992, and the Agreement on Peacekeeping Activities of Oct. 6, 2007.

A generic syllabus proposal for the Collective Peacekeeping Forces of the CSTO

Source: CTSO

The composition of the Collective Peacekeeping Forces may include military, police (police) and civilian personnel, from which are formed:

    • combined Command; combat units (units);
    • police units (police);
    • a group of military observers;
    • units (units) of combat,
    • technical and rear support;
    • other bodies and departments to ensure the implementation of the tasks.

When conducting a peacekeeping operation, the following tasks may be assigned to the collective peacekeeping forces: 

    • monitoring the cease-fire and cease-fire agreements, helping to create a secure environment in crisis areas by ensuring the visible presence of the Collective Peacekeeping Forces;
    • designation of areas of responsibility, separation of conflicting parties, creation of demilitarized zones, zones of separation, humanitarian corridors, facilitating deconcentration of forces of the parties, preventing their movements and collisions in these zones;
    • creating conditions for negotiations and other measures for the peaceful settlement of the conflict, the restoration of law and order, the normal functioning of state and public institutions and organizations;
    • the establishment of facts of violation of the cease-fire agreement and the truce and the investigation of them;
    • control of the locality and actions of the population in the area of ​​responsibility, combating mass unrest, promoting human rights;
    • control over the elimination of fortifications, barriers and minefields;
    • participation in demining areas and facilities;
    • protection and defense of vital objects;
    • taking measures to ensure communication between the conflicting parties and the security of official meetings between them at all levels;
    • control of transportation, suppression of unlawful importation and exportation of military equipment, weapons, ammunition and explosives;
    • ensuring safe transit of all types of transport and functioning of communications;
    • assistance in establishing normal contacts between the population of the conflicting parties;
    • ensuring safe conditions for the return of refugees;
    • rendering, within their capabilities, medical assistance to the civilian population in the conflict zone, including in the event of environmental disasters or natural disasters;
    • ensuring unhindered supplies of humanitarian assistance;
    • other tasks assigned to the Collective peacekeeping forces by the decision of the Collective Security Council of the CSTO or the relevant Mandate, in the interests of resolving the conflict.

Collective Peacekeeping Forces of the CSTO The composition, structure and strength of the Collective Peacekeeping Forces are determined by the decision of the CSTO Collective Security Council for each peacekeeping operation individually, based on the volume of tasks and the specific situation in the conflict zone.