Uzbekistan rejoins Russian-led security bloc
YURAS KARMANAU
AP Worldstream; Jun 24, 2006
Uzbekistan has rejoined a Russian-led security pact of ex-Soviet
nations, another step by the authoritarian Central Asian state toward
Moscow’s orbit after the rupture of its ties with Washington.
Uzbekistan was one of the founding members of the Collective Security
Treaty in 1992.
But in 1999, in an effort by Uzbek President Islam Karimov to keep
his distance from Moscow, Uzbekistan quit the organization to join a
rival regional body known as GUAM, which is seen as a counterweight
to Russian interests.
Karimov told a summit of the six-nation security body in the Belarusian
capital, Minsk, that Uzbekistan would resume full membership because
it also belonged to a parallel ex-Soviet economic body.
"Uzbekistan having become a member of the Eurasian Economic Community
cannot stop halfway, and so we have reinstated our membership in the
Collective Security Treaty," he said Friday.
Putin welcomed the decision, saying that from this moment on,
Uzbekistan was "a fully fledged member of our organization and will
participate fully in its activities."
Since the violent crackdown on an uprising in Andijan in May 2005,
which prompted harsh U.S. criticism, Karimov’s regime has turned
away from the West and switched its allegiance to Russia and
China. Uzbekistan last year left GUAM,
which now is dominated by pro-Western countries.
The Collective Security Treaty links Russia with Armenia, Belarus,
Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan. It is one of several overlapping
organizations seen as means for Moscow to preserve its influence
in its former Soviet backyard and to resist what it perceives as
U.S. efforts to expand its role in the region.
Earlier this month, at a summit of a separate Asian security body
that links China, Russia and four Central Asian states, Karimov
accused unnamed outside interests of sowing discord in the region
and said the U.S.-led forces in Afghanistan had proven ineffective
in combatting the drug trade and improving security.
Belarus’ authoritarian President Alexander Lukashenko _ dubbed
"Europe’s last dictator" by the United States and other Western nations
for his relentless crackdown on dissent _ has repeatedly accused the
West of harboring aggressive intentions and sought to build closer
economic and military ties with Russia and other ex-Soviet nations.
Belarus this week is hosting the largest ever joint military
maneuvers with Russia, envisaging a joint response to an unnamed
outside military threat.
Leaders of Russia, Belarus and four Central Asian nations _ Uzbekistan,
Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan _ on Friday also held a summit
of their Eurasian Economic Community in the Belarusian capital,
focusing on plans to form a customs union of trade agreements.
Numerous previous attempts by the ex-Soviet nations to form a customs
union and coordinate their economic policies have failed because of
sharp differences in size and level of development of their economies
and fears of Russian domination.