A representative of the CSTO Joint Staff participated in the 1st meeting of the Coordinating Council of the authorized bodies of CSTO member states on biological security

A representative of the CSTO Joint Staff, Lieutenant General Anatoly Yakovlev, took part in the 1st meeting of the CSTO Coordinating Council on biological security, which took place in St. Petersburg on December 15.
The Council was established by a decision of the CSTO Committee of Secretaries of Security Councils on September 15, 2021, in order to coordinate activities and cooperation in preventing and countering biological threats and create a reliable system of biological security of the CSTO member states.
During the meeting, Lieutenant General Anatoly Yakovlev delivered a report "On the joint formation of the CSTO radiation, chemical and biological protection and medical support", which is a new component in the CSTO system of collective security.
Prepared by the CSTO Joint Staff at the initiative of the Russian side, the draft Decision of the CSTO CSC "On joint formation of the CSTO NBC protection and medical support" was signed by the heads of states on November 23 of this year.
In October 2022, in the territory of the Republic of Kazakhstan, the deployment and use of this joint formation was tested as part of the joint training with the CSTO Collective Rapid Reaction Forces "Interaction - 2022". A practical simulation exercise was conducted on the subject of "Controlling an outbreak of a particularly dangerous infection in a contingent of the CSTO Collective Rapid Reaction Forces in the course of a joint operation". In addition, as part of the interaction with local sanitary and epidemiological surveillance bodies, by decision of the Kazakhstani government, specialists from the Research Institute of Biological Safety Problems of the Ministry of Health of the Republic of Kazakhstan were also involved in the trainings as the leading organization for diagnosing agents of particularly dangerous infections.
According to experts, based on the results of the practical actions, the joint formation of the NBC protection and medical support of the CSTO has confirmed its ability to fulfill its earmarked tasks.