DUSHANBE, June 15, 2009, Asia-Plus — President Emomali Rahmon attended a session of the Collective Security Council of the Collective Security Organization (CSTO) that was held in Moscow on June 14.
An agreement on creation of the CSTO Rapid-Reaction Force was the major topic of the session. This document specifies the procedure of formation, training and use of the rapid-reaction force intended for countering threats to security within the area of CSTO, which groups Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan
President Rahmon and his counterparts from Armenia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Russia signed the agreement creating the joint rapid-reaction force.
Meanwhile, Belarus President Aleksandr Lukashenko did not attend the Moscow summit. Some international and Russian media report that Belarus canceled its participation in the June 14 CSTO summit due to Russia’s ban on imports of its diary products.
Uzbekistan also did not sign the agreement. Speaking to reporters after the summit, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev said, “Uzbekistan has some doubts.”
As it had been reported earlier, Russia will commit an airborne division and an air-assault brigade to the collective rapid-reaction force and Kazakhstan will commit an airborne brigade to the force. Armenia, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan will be represented by a battalion each.
We will recall that the presidents of member nations of the CSTO gathered in Moscow on February 4 this year to sign a pact on creation of the joint rapid-reaction force. Uzbek President Islam Karimov signed the pact with reservations, agreeing to commit Uzbek forces not permanently but on a mission-to-mission basis.
The force is dedicated to defend member nations against foreign military aggression; perform special operations to counter terrorism, and drug trafficking; and help in times of natural disasters. The new rapid-reaction force will have a permanent joint command and a permanent joint base, whereas the units of the existing collective forces are under national command and are based separately.
The current system of collective security, which is based on the regional principle, includes three regional military groups: Russian-Belarus group (Eastern European group); Russian-Armenian group (Caucasian group); and Central Asian group.
