Belarus parliament ratifies CIS accord on military infrastructure use

Belapan news agency, Minsk
4 Apr 05

Minsk, 4 April: The Belarusian National Assembly’s House of
Representatives [parliament’s lower house] has ratified the agreement
on operational equipment of territories and joint use of military
infrastructure facilities within the Collective Security Treaty
Organization (CSTO) [member states are Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan,
Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Russia].

The chief of the Belarusian armed forces’ General Staff and the
first deputy defence minister, Syarhey Hurulyow, said during the
presentation of the bill that the agreement was signed on 18 June
2004 in Astana [Kazakhstan] “in the interests of ensuring military
security of the parties”.

Hurulyow said the agreement was “a deterrent factor” for potential
military adversaries. “Unfortunately, nobody, including NATO, can
guarantee our security,” the speaker said. Therefore, he noted,
“it is reasonable” for Belarus to ratify the agreement.

Hurulyow noted that Belarus was the first CSTO member state to ratify
the agreement. “We are interested in it more than the other states
due to our geopolitical location,” the chief of the General Staff
explained.

[Passage omitted: details of the agreement.]