Unfortunately, the situation in the area of responsibility of the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) is complicated and tense. Anatoly Sidorov, Head of the CSTO Joint Staff, told this to a press conference Tuesday.

According to him, the main source of military security challenges and threats is the destructive activity of a part of the Western elites, aimed at aggravating the situation around the CSTO and in its member countries.

"The attempts of individual states to strengthen their positions in the Caucasus, to gain access to the Caspian resources and a direct exit to Central Asia, taking into account the high combat potential on the Armenian-Azerbaijani border, contribute to the heating up of the crisis in the Caucasus region of the Collective Security," noted Sidorov.

He stated that the combat potential in the Caucasus region of the Collective Security continues to deepen due, first of all, to the unsettled territorial issues between individual states.

"Russia plays a stabilizing role in the region. At the same time, Washington and Brussels, not even taking into account the fact that Armenia is a member of the CSTO, having their own vision of post-conflict settlement, are trying to impose their format of the security model and neutralize the Organization's efforts in that regard," Sidorov added.