CSTO (21st Century Crisis)

The Collective Security Treaty Organization (Russian: Организация Договора о Коллективной Безопасности, Serbo-Croatian: Организација уговора о колективној сигурности Organizacija ugovora o kolektivnoj sigurnosti, Slovak: Organizácia zmluvy o kolektívnej bezpečnosti, Bulgarian: Организация на Договора за колективна сигурност, Kyrgyz: Жамааттык коопсуздук жөнүндө келишим уюму, Romanian: Organizarea tratatului de securitate colectivă, Arabic: منظمة معاهدة الأمن الجماعي) known by the acronym CSTO is an intergovernmental military alliance that was signed on 15 May 1992.

Originally designed for post-Soviet nations, the CSTO has grown to become one of the world's most powerful military blocs, especially with the acquisition of Middle Eastern and African countries in Egypt, Ethiopia, Yemen and South Syria, and former NATO states Slovakia and Turkey.

The CSTO charter reaffirmed the desire of all participating states to abstain from the use or threat of force. Signatories would not be able to join other military alliances or other groups of states, while aggression against one signatory would be perceived as an aggression against all. To this end, the CSTO holds yearly military command exercises for the CSTO nations to have an opportunity to improve inter-organization cooperation. A CSTO military exercise called "Rubezh 2008" was hosted in Armenia (then an independent country, today a Russian oblast), where a combined total of 9,000 troops from all constituent CSTO member countries conducted operative, strategic and tactical training with an emphasis toward furthering efficiency of the collective security element of the CSTO partnership. The largest of such exercises was held in Southern Russia and central Asia in 2011, consisting of more than 10,000 troops and 70 combat aircraft. Also, Russia has won the right to veto the establishment of new foreign military bases in the member states of the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO). In order to deploy military bases of a third country in the territory of the CSTO member-states, it is necessary to obtain the official consent of all its members.

The CSTO employs a "rotating presidency" system in which the country leading the CSTO alternates every year.

History
Although India never became a member, it became a fully-participating partner state, with Indian leaders stating for a possible entry one day.

However, in 2010, India's decision to aid the North Syrian movement against Bashar al-Assad infuriated Russia. Thus, Russia banned all of its armament exports to India, costing the Russian defense industry billions of dollars in losses.

As a result, Russia chose a new ally in South Asia: Pakistan. It is to Pakistan that Russia began selling weapons, causing some uneasy feelings with Pakistan's traditional ally China. Pakistan also became a new CSTO partner state, though it is formally part of the China-led Shanghai Cooperation Organization.

In addition, after Petro Poroshenko seized control of Ukraine in 2014, Ukraine joined NATO in 2015. This resulted in the increase of Russian and CSTO European personnel in southern Russia.

Acquisition of Bulgaria, Slovakia and Romania
In 2011, Krasimir Karakachanov became president of Bulgaria, with Nikolay Barekov as his prime minister. Karakachanov adopted Davao City mayor Rodrigo Duterte's tactic of brute force to fix corruption in Bulgaria. Karakachanov was evidently pro-Russia, and gave Russia the greenlight to build the South Stream pipeline, despite strong objections from the United States and the European Union, which soured realtor between Bulgaria and the West.

President Karakachanov began to pull Bulgaria away from NATO, and by 2014, Bulgaria was a NATO member by paper only, and officially left the alliance later that year. Karakachanov flew to Russia that same year, to issue an apologetic statement for Bulgaria's alliance with the Central Powers in World War I and with the Axis powers in World War II. In 2016, with Karakachanov's re-election, Bulgaria was admitted into the CSTO.

In 2014, Slovakia filed a referendum to leave NATO. Slovakian leaders had been having meetings with their Russian counterparts in Moscow. The West began to keep a close eye on Slovakia, even in so much as funding protests. Soon, Slovakia was in a light civil unrest between pro-Russia and pro-NATO proponents. In 2015, Slovakia officially became a CSTO member. Barack Obama ordered a complete end to all armaments exports to Slovakia, and enacted sanctions against Slovakia. Romania soon followed, President Klaus Iohannis criticized Obama of being the "new communist dictator", and praised Putin for being the "new leader of freedom". President Obama mulled over United States military actions against Romania, which pulled the trigger, President Iohannis ordered all NATO personnel to leave Romania, and invited Russian forces to oversee NATO's withdrawal, and ensure "Romanian safety against NATO aggression". However, Scandinavia and Germany became Slovakia's alternatives. However, in 2016, Ukraine joined NATO, in which President Putin accused President Poroshenko of being a traitor. After a two-year transition period, Romania became a CSTO member state. President Putin commented on the benefits of a Romanian membership into the CSTO, now that Yugoslavia has a "new ally just on its northern doorsteps". Romanian soldiers immediately began partaking in missions with Yugoslavia, Russia and Bulgaria. In 2017, President Erdogan had begun to move Turkey further into Russia's orbit. Turkey and Saudi Arabia both clashed on North Syrian Prime Minister Muhsin el-Hussein and Vladimir Putin'sto decision to open embassies in one another's nation. Turkey supported the move, Saudi Arabia opposed it, result in bad-mouthing between Turkey and Saudi Arabia. Erdogan accused Saudi Arabia of trying to build a global Salafi empire, funded by the Americans. As his "icing on the cake", Turkey ceased its oil imports from the Gulf States and signed a deal to purchase all of its petrol products from Russia instead.

Eventually, Erdogan called a quits on friendly relations with Saudi Arabia, and ordered Saudi forces to leave Kosovo and Albania, threatening to open fire if all Saudi forces had not withdrawn. In addition, Turkey closed its embassy in Riyadh and its General Consulate in Jeddah. Turkey also banned all Saudis from its country, going on a witch-hunt on any Saudi citizens in Turkey, stating that it will side with Persia on issues. In addition, Turkey announced it would be ready to aid Persia and Russia in any issues against Saudi Arabia.

Thus, Erdogan began a series of pulling Turkey into Russian orbit, including withdrawing his support of anti-Assad rebels, and giving Russia information on their whereabouts.

Soon, Turkish troops began opening fire on suspected militants in Albania trying to cross into Yugoslavia.

However, Yugoslav distrust of Turkey, and the extreme unlikelihood that Turkish and Yugoslav troops would ever get along held Turkey from getting full membership, and instead, became a CSTO partner state. Still, Turkey supports an alliance with Russia, and may very well be a non-aligned ally of Russia.

General Milija Bojović of the Yugoslavia air force stated, "Just because Turkey hates the United States, doesn't mean they are our friends. It is going to take Turkey many, many years to prove themselves, especially with the bitter history between our two nations, and how Turkey constantly tried their best to destroy us, whether it was arming and backing our enemies or outright attacking us. We hope Moscow can understand this, and will make a rational decision."

The Albanian government ordered Turkish troops to leave North Syria, since North Syria has been a state that has been hostile to Russia and being a CSTO member, Turkey refused to associate with a country that fought against Russia, although via proxy. Erdogan has a meeting with El-Hussein to discuss the matter. North Syrian Prime Minister Muhsin el-Hussein stated he wants to continue relations with Turkey and respects Turkey's decision.

After Turkey was rejected membership, the Kremlin released a statement saying, "After seeing Turkey do what they did to NATO, and how many terrorist organizations they have backed, including the terrorists fighting Assad in South Syria, we simply must continue and prolong Ankara's quest to prove itself. Turkey abused its position in NATO to fund despicable groups with arms, a full Turkish membership into the CSTO would mean that Turkey could still maintain a presence in Kosovo, which belongs to Yugoslavia, but in a such scenario, we could not intervene since Turkey would be a CSTO and would be permitted by CSTO's regulations in maintaining a presence. We fear Turkey could abuse this to separate Kosovo from Yugoslavia. While we are flattered to see Turkey making concessions to Yugoslavia, and to us, we must see to it that it bears merit and is not simply a ruse by Ankara."

In addition, the missile strikes on Albania and in Kosovo, committed by the naval aviation units of the Russian Navy, and the air forces of Yugoslavia and Bulgaria only further soured any hopes of CSTO membership for Turkey.

Potential Members
​​​​There have been strong movements in Poland, the Czech Republic, Turkey, Scandinavia, Greece, East Turkestan and Albania to move their countries into the CSTO. The New Albania Movement, is a movement in Albania to usher a new generation of Albanian cooperation and peace with Yugoslavia and Russia.

Ever since Trump and Le Pen stated their spite of NATO, many countries have up and joined the CSTO.

Because of their Orthodox backgrounds, there have been many pro-Russia and pro-CSTO proponents in Greece, arguing that Russia was no longer communist, and a strong protector of Christianity, as many Greeks have felt close to Russia as a result of a common Orthodox background.

Scandinavian desires to become a CSTO state are a fairly new phenomenon, rising in 2015 during the Migrant Crisis. Right-wing and Christian right groups in Scandinavia, mostly Finland, saw Russia as their only choice of support, whereas Russia was seen as an enemy a decade before. As result, these nationalist groups today now see Russia as an ally. In 2017, proponents clashed with pro-NATO and pro-European Union activists in Oslo and Helsinki.

In Poland, many Slavic nationalist groups see Russia as a historical enemy, but a modern ally. There has been a growing pro-Russia movement, led by Mateusz Piskorski. In 2017, Russia topped the United States as the place for Polish foreigners to study abroad. Piskorski hopes to enter Poland into the CSTO.

East Turkestan has had long and historical relations with Russia. East Turkestan is Russia's third-largest economic partner in East Asia, and the country itself, was formed during the Cold War after Soviet and North Turkish troops helped drive the Chinese out. Many East Turkestani citizens disagreed with President Ismail Tiliwaldi's decision in 2006 to end all military ties with Russia. The Abdulkerim Abbas Movement, a pro-Russia group, states a goal of having Uyghurstan join the CSTO.

Germany is another country where pro-Russia movements have sprung up, owing to Putin's anti-immigration views. Although it was slightly died down due to Trump's agreeing views on immigration. Russia is Germany's third-largest economic partner, with German Chancellor Angela Merkel stating that much like Turkey, Germany has become an unseen Russian ally. However, Chancellor Merkel stated that should Germany leave NATO and become a CSTO state, it will continue to enjoy the relations it had with the United States prior.

As for the Czech Republic, in 2015, after American pressures not to have the Czech government send foreign contingents and diplomats to the Victory Day Parade in Moscow, the Czech government began to become overtly critical of the United States, calling it the "new Soviet Union". As a result, activists in the Czech Republic have been pushing for the Czech government to join Russia and the CSTO. In 2018, the armed forces of the Czech Republic partook in the Vostok 2018 war games, something heavily opposed by the governments of the United Kingdom, Austria, Germany, Albania, Italy, Spain and Portugal, all NATO co-members, and even NATO partners such as that of Australia, Japan and Saudi Arabia. Still, the Czech Republic still remain a NATO member, but there are serious considerations to expel the it, like the fate of Turkey.