DUSHANBE, June 3, 2015, Asia-Plus — Russian Defense Minister Sergey Shoigu is arriving in Dushanbe today afternoon for participation in a session of the Council of Defense Ministers of the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) member nations that will take place here tomorrow.
An official source at the Ministry of Defense of Tajikistan (MoD) says Shoiqu is visiting the headquarters of the Russian military based deployed in Tajikistan today.
Tomorrow, Shoigu will hold talks with his Tajik counterpart Sherali Mirzo. The two sides are expected to discuss the process of implementation of agreements reached between the two countries on modernization of the Tajik national army, training of personnel for Tajikistan’s armed forces and on military and technical cooperation.
Defense ministers of Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan are also arriving in Dushanbe today afternoon for participation in the CSTO defense ministers’ meeting.
The Collective Security Treaty Organization is a Russian-dominated regional security alliance. The CSTO now comprises the former Soviet republics of Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, and Tajikistan. Uzbekistan that suspended its membership in 1999 and returned to the CSTO again in 2006 after it came under international criticism for its brutal crackdown of antigovernment demonstrations in the eastern city of Andijon in May 2005 announced on June 28, 2012 that it has suspended its membership of the CSTO, saying the organization ignores Uzbekistan and does not consider its views. The CSTO is currently an observer organization at the United Nations General Assembly.
