WPS Agency, Russia
DEFENSE and SECURITY (Russia)
August 17, 2011 Wednesday
LESS COLLECTIVE SECURITY
by Pierre Sidibe
Source: Izvestia (Moscow issue), August 15, 2011, p. 2
CSTO SUMMIT FOR PRESIDENTS OF RUSSIA, KAZAKHSTAN, ARMENIA, TAJIKISTAN,
AND KYRGYZSTAN; Interest in the CSTO is ebbing even in its own member
states.
Informal summit of the CIS Collective Security Treaty Organization
(CSTO) ended in Astana, Kazakhstan. The summit turned out to be a
disappointment. President of Belarus Alexander Lukashenko (currently
CSTO chair-in-office) attended the protocol events only and would not
even hear of going to Nursultan Nazarbayev’s out of town residence.
President of Uzbekistan Islam Karimov never deigned to appear in
Astana.
In other words, the summit was only attended by presidents of Russia,
Kazakhstan, Armenia, Tajikistan, and Kyrgyzstan.
The presidents discussed joint defense from threats from the south and
decided to complete formation of the Collective Armed Forces as soon
as possible. The contingent in question will include 20,000 servicemen
and several dozens aircraft and helicopters. “CSTO leaders discussed
implementation of the program of the collective fast-response forces.
They need sophisticated and compatible weapons. They ought to be ready
to act in all sorts of crises and emergencies,” said CSTO Secretary
General Nikolai Bordyuzha.
The moment the protocol meeting ended, the heads of state were ferried
to Nazarbayev’s residence in Borovoye, 250 kilometers from Astana, by
helicopters. They spent Saturday there fishing and hunting. Nazarbayev
personally saw them to the airport Sunday morning.
Why would Lukashenko leave so fast? What information is available to
this newspaper indicates that the president of Belarus returned from
Astana to Minsk only in order to leave it again, this time for Qatar.
As for Karimov, he missed the summit on account of having a crammed
itinerary or so the official excuse went. Uzbekistan will be
celebrating the 20th anniversary of independence in late August so its
leader is probably busy indeed. Off the record, however, Karimov must
have chosen to stay away from the summit because of his strained
relations with Nazarbayev. A source within Russian diplomatic circles
added as well that Karimov did not exactly like the CSTO as such,
believing that too few practical accords were ever signed at its
summits.
“That’s Karimov for you. “I never travel just for the sake of talking.
Whenever I travel anywhere, I expect results.” By and large, the
Uzbeks have never actually belonged in the CSTO. They participate in
CSTO affairs only whenever the matter concerns defense from the
Afghani threat and clandestine arms deals. That’s all they need the
CSTO for. They could not care less about collective peacekeeping
contingents and so on. They only need the CSTO for safety’s sake…
and for contacts with Russia,” said the diplomat.
The Uzbek leader even denied Bordyuzha an audience when he was touring
CSTO capitals before the summit.
“Yes, that’s how we do things here: all the rest plus the Uzbeks. We
consult with all CSTO members save for Uzbekistan and then acquaint
the Uzbeks with the decisions made by all others. The Uzbeks subscribe
to these decisions but infrequently. They prefer dealing with their
partners directly, without intermediaries,” said the diplomat.
The CSTO will be ten years in 2012, and the CIS Collective Security
Treaty will be twenty years. Established as an analog of NATO, the
structure is full of inner tensions and discords. The CSTO was
conceived as an instrument of territorial and economic defense of its
member states from foreign military-political aggressors,
international terrorism, and natural calamities. Ten years later, its
members’ interest in the CSTO is clearly ebbing.