RIA Novosti, Russia
Sept 5 2008
Regional security council to consider developments in Georgia
10:36 | 05/ 09/ 2008
MOSCOW, September 5 (RIA Novosti) – Members of the CSTO Security
Council will meet in Moscow on Friday to discuss developments in
Georgia and South Ossetia and adopt a declaration, a Kremlin source
said.
The Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) is a security
grouping comprising Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia,
Uzbekistan and Tajikistan.
Today’s meeting plans to "discuss the military and political
developments, in the light of the situation in South Ossetia, and
measures to reduce emerging threats to our collective security," the
source said.
CSTO security council heads met on Wednesday in Yerevan, Armenia,
where they backed a Russian proposal to impose an arms embargo on
Georgia.
The CSTO also held a foreign ministerial meeting on Thursday to urge
strict implementation of a French-brokered peace plan signed by all
sides in the dispute "to prevent new attempts to use force in settling
the conflict and securing peace and stability in the region."
South Ossetia was attacked by Georgian forces on August 8. The
majority of residents of South Ossetia are Russian passport holders,
and Moscow launched a massive operation to expel Georgian troops from
the region and to reinforce its peacekeepers.
On August 26, Russia recognized South Ossetia and another Georgian
breakaway republic, Abkhazia, as independent states.