Agency WPS
DEFENSE and SECURITY (Russia)
March 18, 2005, Friday

ORGANIZATION OF THE CIS COLLECTIVE SECURITY TREATY TAKES UP COMMON
STANDARDS

SOURCE: Izvestia (Moscow issue), March 15, 2005, p. 6

by Nikolai Khorunzhy

Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Razov told Duma deputies last week
that some “important accords” were to be signed at the Collective
Security Council of the Organization of the CIS Collective Security
Treaty. According to what information this newspaper has compiled,
one of these accords will make Russian made military hardware
available at a discount to all armies of the Organization of the CIS
Collective Security Treaty.

So far, this military hardware has been only available at a discount
to units involved in the system of Fast Response Collective Forces.
The matter concerns 11 battalions at this point, representing
national armies of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, and Tajikistan.
Insiders say that the practice is to be applied now to all armies of
the Organization of the CIS Collective Security Treaty (i.e. the four
mentioned ones plus Armenia and Belarus).

All matters in connection with deliveries of the military hardware
will be tackled by the international military-technical cooperation
commission. This panel is also to be set up at the next meeting. The
analogous commission within the framework of the Commonwealth was
disbanded as inefficient. As a matter of fact, the powers of the
future commission will not be restricted to deliveries alone. It will
also handle cooperation between military-industrial complexes of
countries of the Organization of the CIS Collective Security Treaty,
organization of joint research, weapons upgrade, and joint
manufacture of military hardware.

The meeting will also contemplate a draft accord on the mechanism of
collective military-technical assistance to countries of the
Organization of the CIS Collective Security Treaty, in accordance
with Article 4 of the Collective Security Treaty. The article states
that all countries of the Organization of the CIS Collective Security
Treaty provide all and any necessary aid, military assistance
included, to the signatory under attack. In fact, the future accord
will set up a legal basis for supplying the troops with ordnance,
fuel, spare parts, for urgent repairs, and personnel training in
emergencies.

An accord on personnel training at a discount within the framework of
the Organization of the CIS Collective Security Treaty has been
drafted as well. All six signatories set quotas for mutual personnel
training in 2005, already. After all, deliveries of Russian military
hardware and weapons systems require unification of personal training
systems. Russia set aside $15 million for the purpose in 2005. The
United States spends about $11.5 million on CIS military training.