The decision to establish the CSTO was made on May 14, 2002 at the 10th session of the Collective Security Council in Moscow.
Russia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Armenia are the CSTO member states.
On October 7, 2002 in Chisinau, the heads of the states that were party to the treaty signed a statute and agreement on the legal status of the CSTO.
On September 18, 2003, the ratification of the statute and agreement was completed by all CSTO member states.
The statute established the CSTO as an international and regional organization, specified its main aims and principles, the directions of its activity, its bodies, the decision making procedure, the criteria for membership, and its legal powers. The statute also regulates a number of other aspects of the organization's activity.
The agreement's provisions regulate the organization's legal powers, privileges and exemptions; its officials and personnel; the representatives of the member states participating in activities within the organization; and it outlines the principles of labor relations and social responsibility of the organization's officials and personnel.
The Collective Security Council, the highest political body in the CSTO, coordinates and organizes joint activity between the member states to implement the Collective Security Treaty (May 15, 1992).
The chairman of the council is Emomali Rakhmonov, the president of Tajikistan (since April 28, 2003).
The council's general secretary is Nikolai Bordyuzha (Russia, since Aprill 28, 2003).
The defense structures:
--Rapid Deployment Collective Forces;
--Joint Staff of the Rapid Deployment Collective Forces.
The CSTO Joint Staff began in Moscow as part of the General Staff of the Russian Federation's Armed Forces on January 1, 2004. The Chief of the Main Staff of the Armed Forces of Tajikistan, Major General Ramil Nadirov, was appointed chief of the CSTO Joint Staff on April 28, 2003, and assumed office on January 1, 2004. Lieutenant General Vasily Zavgorodny (Russia) is the first deputy chief (since September 18, 2003).
