DUSHANBE, Febraury 7, 2009, Asia-Plus — Most likely, Tajikistan will be represented in the rapid-reaction force of the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) by the battalion that was committed by the country to the CSTO Collective Rapid Deployment Force (CRDF) in Central Asia, first Deputy Defense Minister also Chief the Defense Ministry General Staff, Lieutenant-General Ramil Nadyrov, said in an interview with Asia-Plus.
We will recall that the CRDF in Central Asia consists of battalions, committed to it by Russia and Central Asian member nations of the Organization – Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan.
“An exact information about format and frames of functioning of the CSTO rapid-reaction force will become known only in three months – this term was given for solution of organizing issues and creation of legal foundation,” the general said.
As it had been reported earlier, the presidents of member nations of the CSTO, which groups Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan, gathered in Moscow on February 4 to sign an agreement to create a joint rapid-reaction force. It is to be noted that 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. Sergey Prikhodko, an aide the Russian aide for foreign policy, announced that the new rapid-reaction force would have a permanent joint command and a permanent joint base, whereas the units of the existing collective forces were under national command and were based separately. According to Russia’s news agency Interfax, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev said that Russia was ready to commit the 98th airborne division and the 31st air-assault brigade to the force and it was announced that Kazakhstan might commit its entire elite airborne brigade to the force.
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.
