MOSCOW. May 15 (Interfax) - Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko believes the CSTO countries have chosen the right direction of the organization's development and does not rule out its expansion in the future.
"The interest of other countries and international and regional organizations, including the UN, in establishing close cooperation clearly shows that CSTO is respected and we have chosen the right direction of development," Lukashenko said at the meeting of the CSO Collective Security Council in Moscow on Tuesday.
"A fine example of that is the fact that the organization increased during Belarus chairmanship in 2006, when Uzbekistan entered it," Lukashenko said. "I think it is not the last expansion of the organization in our history," he said.
The CSTO has gone "far beyond the limits of a classical defense bloc" in a short period of time and "is capable of reacting to virtually any threats at this stage," he said.
"The increase of CSTO authority in the world was made possible not only by our active position on the international scene, but also by an increase of interaction and tenacity inside the organization," Lukashenko said.