DUSHANBE
, February 9, Asia-Plus – The Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) headquarters has worked out a draft agreement on a procedure of operational deployment and use of the Organization’s collective rapid deployment forces of the Central Asian region, the source in the Tajik Defense Ministry told Asia-Plus.
According to the source, the CSTO rapid deployment forces are dedicated to carry out joint military, counterterrorist and other special operations for responding opportunely to challenges and threats to national region security.
“A permanent operational group comprising officers from
Kazakhstan
,
Kyrgyzstan
,
Russia
and
Tajikistan
has been set up at the CSTO rapid deployment forces for the Central Asian region,” the Asia-Plus interlocutor said.
In the meantime, RIA Novosti Monday quoted the CSTO Secretary General Nikolai Bordyuzha as saying that the framework for the formation of peacekeeping forces of the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) will be submitted for consideration at its spring session. “The CSTO member nations regard the formation of peacekeeping activities within the framework of the organization as highly important, which will undoubtedly accelerate the CSTO”s further integration into the regional and global security architecture and promote the national and collective interests of the member states,” Bordyuzha was cited as saying. The organization”s supreme body, the Collective Security Council, will be responsible for deploying the peacekeeping forces. A UN mandate will be required to carry out peacekeeping operations beyond CSTO boundaries.
The CSTO was founded in 2002 by Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, and Tajikistan to ensure peace, preserve the territorial integrity of member countries, coordinate activities in the fight against international terrorism, drug trafficking, and organized international crime, and provide immediate military assistance to a CSTO member in the event of a military threat.
