The Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) is ready to provide assistance in normalizing the situation along the Kyrgyz-Tajik border, CSTO Secretary-General Stanislav Zas stated Wednesday at the joint meeting of the CSTO foreign ministers, defense ministers and security council secretaries in Yerevan, Armenia.
"We pay a special attention to normalization of the situation along the Tajik-Kyrgyz border. We believe CSTO has all necessary resources and expertise to provide assistance to two our member states in achieving this goal, if Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan find this necessary," the CSTO Secretary-General was cited as saying by RIA Novosti.
Recall, Kyrgyzstan has asked a Russia-led security bloc to deploy peacekeeping troops at its disputed border with Tajikistan to ensure a ceasefire holds between the two countries.
Kyrgyz Defense Minister Baktybek Bekbolotov told reporters in Bishkek on October 19 that he had discussed that issue with the CSTO Secretary-General Stanislav Zas earlier in the month.
“An independent mediator must stay between us, such as a limited group of CSTO troops, with the goal of maintaining a ceasefire and the withdrawal of heavy weaponry from the border. If they solve these two issues, then the political goals on the delimitation and demarcation of the Kyrgyz-Tajik border can start being discussed,” Bekbolotov said.
Both Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan, along with Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan and Russia are member nations of the Collective Security Treaty Organization.
Bekbolotov's statement comes two days after Kyrgyz Security Council Secretary Marat Imankulov said that Russian President Vladimir Putin had agreed to provide Bishkek with archived Soviet-era maps to help solve the ongoing border dispute between Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan.
"I think the problem will be solved, as archive documents and maps can be retrieved in Moscow," Imankulov said.
Putin said earlier that there was more "true" information about borders between the Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan available in the archives than in those countries themselves.
Putin, Rahmon and Japarov held talks in the Kazakh capital, Astana, on October 13. The talks were reportedly initiated by Putin, who said he "was ready to assist in resolving border disputes between Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan."
In September, Tajik and Kyrgyz authorities accused each other of aggression after the two sides used heavy artillery and mortars in the latest clashes near a disputed segment of the mutual border.
