POST-SOVIET STATES, CHINA SET TO HOLD JOINT MILITARY EXERCISES

RIA Novosti
18/05/2006 15:03

MOSCOW, May 18 (RIA Novosti) – Two regional security organizations
comprising post-Soviet nations and China are planning joint military
exercises, the chief of Russia’s general staff said Thursday.

“We are currently discussing a joint exercise under the aegis of
the SCO [Shanghai Cooperation Organization],” Yury Baluyevsky said,
adding that the date of the exercise, which would also involve troops
from Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) nations, had yet
to be decided.

Baluyevsky said the exercises would practice joint counteraction
against terrorist threats.

The chiefs of the CSTO nations’ general staffs held a meeting in Moscow
Thursday to discuss ways to make the collective security system more
effective, including by improving control of the Collective Rapid
Reaction Force, which currently numbers 1,500 military personnel
deployed in Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, and Tajikistan.

The Shanghai Cooperation Organization, which comprises the former
Soviet republics in Central Asia – Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan,
Uzbekistan – as well as Russia and China, was created in 2001 to
deal with security issues, including border conflicts, terrorism,
and militant Islam.

These countries, without China, also form the CSTO, which also
includes Belarus and Armenia. The CSTO is seen by some experts as a
counterbalance to NATO’s eastward expansion.

Unlike the CSTO, the Shanghai Cooperation Organization does not have in
its charter a provision on collective defense of its member by others
in the event of an outside attack. It was created to counter attacks
by illegal armed groups if they cross the border of a member-country,
and its military activities are rather limited, although two of its
members, Russia and China, held major war games last fall.