Organizer: Ministry of Defence of the Russian Federation V TH MOSCOW CONFERENCE ON INTERNATIONAL SECURITY moscow, 27–28 April 2016 CONFERENCE REVIEW Greetings by the President of the Russian Federation Vladimir Putin I am happy to welcome participants and guests of the V Moscow Conference on International Security. Over the years your forum, organized by the Russian Federation Defence Ministry, has proved its strong role of a sought-after platform for professional discus- sions on a broad range of global and regional security issues, striving to find the most suitable solutions. It is important that it brings together representatives of defence agencies from different countries, heads of international organizations and leading Russian and foreign experts. This year agenda is focused on combating international terrorism, which has grown to unprecedented scales and, in fact, challenged civilization. It requires concerted and strong action of the entire international community to effectively counter this global threat. Russian initiative of a wide anti-terror front, which is proposed to be set up based on international law and under the UN auspices, is aimed to solve this problem. Russian Aerospace Forces delivered a strong strike against ISIL and other terrorist organizations in Syria, contributed to a radical change in the situation and created favorable conditions for moving forward inter-Syrian dialogue in the interests of the political settlement of the conflict. I am convinced that during the Conference you will be able to thor- oughly discuss a wide range of issues requiring joint decisions based on international law and the principle of equal and indivisible security. I wish you a fruitful work and all the best. conference participants 27–28 april 2016 / Total numberTotal of participants Military Military agencies Nongovernmental organizations Participating Participating countries presentations review 708 83 52 125 / Regional representation international (% of total) organizations Latin America 8 % Africa 5 % North America Commonwealth United League Collective Security Organization International 3 % of Independent States Nations of Arab States Treaty Organization for Security and Committee Cooperation in Europe of the Red Cross Europe 12 % Russia 29 % Public The Federal Security The Presidential Service of the Russian authorities Executive Office Federation Middle East 15 % The Council The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Federation The Security Council of the Russian Federation of the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation of the Russian Federation The State Duma The Foreign Intelligence Asia 28 % of the Federal Assembly Service of the Russian of the Russian Federation Federation 5 4 / / 27–28 april 2016 / presentations review / Opening of the Conference In his address, Minister of Defence of the Russian Federation, Army General Sergey Shoygu Sergey Shoygu noted that over the year since the previous conference, the world has not grown any more secure and the situation has not become any more stable. He focused on such threats to global security as the development of the missile defence system and “Prompt Global Strike, including using high-precision, long-range non-nuclear weapons the effects of which are comparable to nuclear weapons.” The number one global threat of today, Shoygu said, is terrorism. The Defence Minister condemned “flirting” with terrorism and any form of support for terrorism, and also stressed that exterminating terrorists is the Russian Defence Ministry’s top priority — as evidenced by its operation in Syria, which dealt а “major blow” to terrorist groupings such as “Islamic State” and Jabhat al-Nusra (both banned in Russia), and created conditions to launch the process of political settlement of the conflict , opened up pathways for humanitarian aid to reach the Syrian people, and saw the start of demining work within Syria. In relation to this the defence minister also had а positive view of cooperation with the United States on the Syrian issue, but noted the United States’ uncompromising stance regarding the retention of Bashar Assad as Syrian President. Shoygu said that one of the Russian Defence Ministry’s priorities is enhancing military cooperation with CIS and CSTO The plenary session opened with greetings from President of the Russian Federation Vladimir countries, with а view to further strengthening Russia’s national security. Addressing the need Nikolay Patrushev Putin, read by Secretary of the Russian Federation Security Council Nikolay Patrushev. to expand cooperation within the SCO, Defence Minister Shoygu noted Russia’s proposal to Participants then listened to Nikolay Patrushev’s speech. The Secretary of the Security Council create an institution of military representatives within this organisation. Shoygu stressed that of Russia said that the Moscow Conference on International Security was а key event in efforts Russia-NATO cooperation has been frozen, and not on Russia’s initiative. “A harsh, uncompro- to strengthen state stability and served as а platform for cooperation on countering the global mising information war is being waged against Russia,” Shoygu said. In the meantime NATO problems faced today. Patrushev noted that the highly representational level of participants states have started expanding their military infrastructure along Russia’s borders while also in the conference testified to “the growing awareness of the need for collective efforts to engaging in dangerous strategic plans. Despite this, Shoygu noted, attempts to isolate Russia combat new threats and challenges.” The Secretary of the Security Council also noted that have failed. The Minister of Defence also noted the significance that Russia attaches to its the current state of affairs in the world requires more coordinated and decisive action from relations with countries in Asia Pacific and the creation of а new equal and indivisible secu- the international community. In these conditions Patrushev stressed the particular danger rity architechture in the region. Shoygu praised the first ever meeting of the heads ofdefence posed today by certain states’ tendency to act unilaterally, and intervene in other states’ agencies from Russia and ASEAN states, noting that this meeting made а vital contribution domestic affairs. This, he said, leads not only to wars and international conflicts, but also to the upcoming Russia-ASEAN summit in Sochi. to an uptick in international terrorism — the main threat to security faced today. In order to combat this threat, Nikolay Patrushev proposed to consolidate the international community’s efforts and set differences aside. He stressed President Putin’s initiative to establish а broad Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation Sergey Lavrov started his address by noting sergey international anti-terrorist coalition based on international law, with the UN taking а leading lavrov that “the problem of international terrorism logically became а focal point of the conference”. role, and put forward the following steps to improve the situation: increasing cooperation in In his speech, the minister stressed the need “to learn all our lessons” and recognise actions stopping the activities of foreign fighters, including after their return to their home countries; and decisions that pushed the Middle East and North Africa into “a downward spiral to overall boosting information-sharing about terrorist movements; establishing mutual information degradation with still unclear outcomes” as unsound. That requires the recognition of the channels on refugee issues; stopping terrorist recruitment and propaganda activities, including cultural and civilisational diversity of countries across the world, and to refrain from imposing online; protecting states from external intervention using information and communications values from outside. The minister stressed that the only way to resolve domestic conflicts in technologies; identifying and obstructing terrorist financing channels. Patrushev also spoke the Middle East countries is to involve all main population groups. The fact that terrorists also about the need to strengthen international control over drug trafficking on the basis of key UN have technical documentation and production capacity to create chemical weapons, which they conventions. He stressed that Russia is open to constructive cooperation on all these issues have already used, adds а further threat. In this regard Lavrov recalled the Russian initiative to with states all around the globe, both on а bilateral and multilateral basis. Patrushev expressed develop the International Convention for the Suppression of Acts of Chemical Terrorism within the his confidence that the conference “will make it possible to take another step towards solving framework of the Conference on Disarmament, and the proposal to expand the possible scope 7 6 / these issues in the interests of the welfare and prosperity of the peoples of all our nations.” of the convention to include measures to counter biological terrorism threats. The minister also / 27–28 april 2016 / presentations review / noted Russia’s proposal to accept updated Concept for а Security Framework for the Persian to such а scale that they control territory, resources, populations, and carry out trans-border Gulf. Lavrov expressed concern over the situation in Afghanistan, which is “affected by toxic operations. The Secretary-General said that he has taken steps to strengthen coordination on exposure to the ‘Islamic