CSTO: MOSCOW-LED SECURITY GROUP HARBORS ASPIRATIONS OF GOING GLOBAL
Sergei Blagov

Eurasianet

3/24/10

Russian officials want to establish a global presence for the
Collective Security Treaty Organization in the wake of the signing of
a cooperation pact between the Moscow-led group and the United Nations.

The UN-CSTO pact was signed in Moscow on March 18 by UN
Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and Nikolai Bordyuzha, the CSTO’s
secretary general.

A joint declaration issued in Moscow suggested the CSTO could
become involved in UN operations covering "conflict prevention and
conflict resolution, [as well as] combating terrorism, trans-national
criminality [and] illegal arms trafficking." Cooperation would take
into account "the respective spheres of competence and the procedures
of either organization," the joint declaration added.

Bordyuzha portrayed the pact as the UN’s "recognition of our
organization’s authority and its ability to contribute to safeguarding
global security." Russian officials have long expressed interest in
raising the CSTO’s international profile. Bordyuzha, accordingly,
indicated that CSTO forces could participate in UN missions in
different parts of the globe in the not too distant future. The
CSTO comprises Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan,
Russia and Uzbekistan.

Any CSTO force deployed under UN auspices would likely be drawn from
the organization’s rapid deployment forces (KSBR), which currently
comprises 10 battalions (five from Russia, two each from Kazakhstan and
Tajikistan and one from Kyrgyzstan). The KSBR is due to be replaced
soon by the Russian-led Rapid Reaction Force (KSOR). [For background
see the Eurasia Insight archive].

The UN cooperation pact marks a potential watershed in the
CSTO’s long-standing quest to bolster its legitimacy as a security
organization. Russian officials are especially eager for the CSTO to
be seen as NATO’s equal. Since the CSTO’s inception in 2002, NATO
has kept the Moscow-led group at arm’s length. Russian officials,
including Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, have been increasingly
vociferous in complaining about NATO’s stance, accusing the Atlantic
Alliance of maintaining "ideological" stereotypes.

While the UN cooperation pact may make it more difficult for NATO
to avoid engagement, alliance officials in Brussels remain plainly
reluctant to work with the CSTO in any meaningful way. On February
22, Bordyuzha voiced hope that the CSTO could cooperate with NATO on
combating narcotics trafficking out of Afghanistan. NATO officials
have not publicly responded to the CSTO proposal, but Bordyuzha still
suggested that joint cooperation remained a possibility.

With or without NATO’s cooperation, Russia appears intent on getting
involved in anti-trafficking efforts concerning Afghanistan. During a
meeting in Moscow on March 16 between Russian Deputy Foreign Minister
Alexei Borodavkin and visiting Afghan security officials, both sides
stated that the CSTO could play a role in containing the trafficking
problem. [For background see the Eurasia Insight archive].

Editor’s Note: Sergei Blagov is a Moscow-based specialist in CIS
political affairs.