DUSHANBE, October 16, 2009, Asia-Plus — The first military exercise for the new Collective Operation Reaction Forces (COFR) created within the framework of the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) is ending today with a final phase at the Matybulak training grounds in Kazakhstan.
According to Gazeta.ru, the presidents of Russia (Dmitry Medvedev), Kazakhstan (Nursultan Nazarbayev), Kyrgyzstan (Kurmanbek Bakiyev), Armenia (Serzh Sargsyan), Belarus (Aleksandr Lukashenko) and Tajikistan (Emomali Rahmon) already arrived in Kazakhstan and only participation of Uzbek President Islam Karimov is still in doubt.
In the meantime, Russia’s Itar Tass reports today that so far it is unclear whether Belarus President Aleksandr Lukashenko will arrive. According to Itar Tass, Medvedev’s spokeswoman Natalya Timakova said, “A Belarus task group will participate in the exercise as an observer.”
Lukashenko initially refused to sign up to the February agreement on the creation of the COFR, but in September suggested he would join the plan. Uzbekistan recorded “a special opinion”, which actually meant it would not join the force, Itar Tass said.
We will recall that the presidents of member nations of the CSTO, which groups Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan, gathered in Moscow on February 4, 2009 to sign an agreement to create COFR and the Uzbek president signed the pact with reservations, agreeing to commit Uzbek forces not permanently but on a mission-to-mission basis.
An official CSTO field summit will took place at the Matybulak training grounds today evening.
As it had been reported earlier the initial stage of the military exercise marking the first official testing of COFR was held in Moscow on August 26-28. The first stage involved command-staff planning linked to the military-political aspects of coalition interaction.
The second stage was held in Belarus in late September and the third stage was launched in Kazakhstan this month. Military units joined the second and third stages.
According to the Ministry of Defense (MoD), the main purpose of third phase, involving some 7,000 military personnel, is in rehearsing preparation and joint use of COFR and the operational command troops Yug (South) in the region of the collective security. The MoD operational group is representing Tajikistan in the third stage of the exercise in Kazakhstan.
According to presidential press service, President Rahmon will return to Dushanbe today evening.
