Armenia actively cooperating within CIS military treaty – official
Arminfo
15 Mar 07
Yerevan, 15 March: Armenia is an active member of the [CIS] Collective
Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) and sees its security within the
activity of this organization. CSTO Secretary General Nikolay
Bordyuzha said this today during a meeting with students of Yerevan
State University.
Bordyuzha said that all government structures in Armenia have been
cooperating with the CSTO. He talked of the organization’s history and
said that the CSTO was established in a period when its member states
were only beginning to form their structures during the disintegration
of the USSR. [Passage omitted: more on history of CSTO]
The CSTO member states have also been against the proposal by the GUAM
(Georgia, Ukraine, Azerbaijan, Moldova) to discuss the "frozen
conflicts" in the UN. Bordyuzha referred to Armenia’s participation in
the CSTO and said that the republic was able to purchase Russian arms
by Russian prices, and Armenian servicemen can study in Russian
military institutions for free.
"It is important for us to build a comprehensive security system. This
is why the cooperation develops in different directions," Bordyuzha
said. Joint work in the field of overcoming technical and natural
disasters will be a new direction of cooperation within the
CSTO. Peace-keeping will be another direction.
Bordyuzha said that a package of documents was being prepared within
the framework of the CSTO, on the basis of which peace-keeping forces
[presumably of the CIS] will be created. They will act with a UN
mandate, and not only in the CSTO member states, but also in other
countries.
Bordyuzha reminded that the CSTO member states have certain
responsibilities, including that they must not built bases belonging
to other countries on their own territory without consulting all the
members of the organization.
Comparing the CSTO with NATO, Bordyuzha said that the alliance was
created more than half a century ago and major efforts had been
invested to present its activity as positive. "We cannot carry out
similar awareness activity, but within our abilities we do carry out
certain awareness work about our activity," the CSTO Secretary General
said. "We do a lot to ensure common security," he added.