"There should be general and collective security, and in view of this, the CSTO and NATO will cooperate," Rogozin told a news conference at RIA Novosti on Thursday [24 January].

Rogozin was appointed Russian permanent representative to NATO in January this year. He noted that there are a number of problems and that close cooperation is needed between the Collective Security Treaty Organization and the North Atlantic Alliance to resolve them.

"There is the problem of transit in Afghanistan, support for the Afghan people, actions of collective forces in Afghanistan. They cannot be resolved without the good will of the Central Asian countries, Kazakhstan and the Russian Federation," Rogozin said.

In his opinion, the future of the CSTO "is very serious even due to the geographic position of the bloc since it is located at arm’s length from hotspots". NATO still does not regard the CSTO as a real thing, although it is holding bilateral negotiations with each of the countries that are members of this organization, Rogozin added.

The CSTO members are Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan.