Post-Soviet security bloc to hold summit, but without Belarus
13:5214/06/2009
MOSCOW, June 14 (RIA Novosti) – A summit of the post-Soviet CSTO
security bloc will go ahead in Moscow on Sunday as planned, despite
Belarus’s withdrawal in protest against Russia’s ban on its dairy
products, the Kremlin said.
The summit of the Collective Security Treaty Organization comprising
Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Uzbekistan and
Tajikistan was preceded by a meeting of the CSTO Council of Foreign
Ministers.
"Participation or non-participation in the CSTO summit is a sovereign
affair of each state that joined the organization voluntarily. Moscow
proceeds from the fact that the CSTO is an institution needed not only
by Russia but equally by other CSTO member states," presidential aide
Sergei Prikhodko said.
Earlier in June, Russia banned imports of over 1,000 types of dairy
products from Belarus, dealing a major blow to its budget revenue,
saying producers in the ex-Soviet republic had failed to comply with
new Russian standards.
The country’s Foreign Ministry reacted with a statement saying: "At
this moment, we face open economic discrimination by one of the members
of the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) against Belarus
in an important category of products. Objectively, such actions
undermine economic security, which is a fundamental basis for
stability, and therefore for comprehensive and all-embracing security."
"In this situation, Belarus was forced to make a decision on cancelling
its participation in the CSTO meeting in Moscow on June 14."