Russian Security Council Secretary Sergei Shoigu warned that the international security environment is deteriorating rapidly, with growing tensions along the western borders of the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO).

Speaking at a meeting of the CSTO Committee of Security Council Secretaries, Shoigu argued that the primary threat to the alliance stems from NATO and European countries, Caliber.Az reports, citing Russian media.

“The situation in the field of international security is rapidly degrading. Alongside existing challenges and threats, new ones are emerging within the organization’s area of responsibility. The most tense situation is developing along the western borders of the CSTO. The main threat comes from NATO and the countries of the so-called civilized Europe, which have fallen into a revanchist and militaristic frenzy,” he said.

Shoigu also claimed that public calls to attack Russia’s Kaliningrad region are increasingly being heard in the Baltic states.

According to the Russian official, the CSTO is closely monitoring the expansion of NATO military activity near its borders, including an increase in exercises, infrastructure development and intelligence operations.

“We adequately assess the risks associated with the systematic increase in the number of NATO exercises, military potential, infrastructure and intelligence activities in the western region of collective security and are taking measures to minimize them,” Shoigu stated.

Addressing the issue of drones, Shoigu accused the Baltic states of either failing to detect Ukrainian unmanned aerial vehicles crossing their territory or knowingly allowing such flights to occur.

“There are two possibilities regarding the flights of unmanned aerial vehicles from Ukraine through the Baltic states toward our northwest. The first option is that you have a complete absence of an air defence system and you neither see nor hear anything, or you are accomplices. The choice is theirs,” he said.

He further argued that Baltic countries had failed to intercept any drones despite repeated incidents involving UAVs crashing on their territory.

“We can only be blamed for the fact that our air defence system works. There is something for the West to learn from here,” Shoigu added.

The Russian Security Council secretary also criticized ongoing military exercises in Europe, describing them as openly anti-Russian and directed against both Russia and Belarus.

“Today, seven exercises are taking place simultaneously. And all of them, without any camouflage, are directed precisely against us,” he said.

At the same time, Shoigu defended recent joint Russian-Belarusian military drills, insisting that they were purely defensive and limited to the territory of the Union State.

“I would like to note that the recent Russian-Belarusian exercises were exclusively defensive in character and did not extend beyond the borders of the Union State,” he stated.

According to Shoigu, training involving “modern weapons currently possessed by allies in Belarus and Russia did not go beyond the territories of Belarus and Russia.”

By Vafa Guliyeva

Source: caliber.az