CSTO’S RAPID-REACTION FORCE TO HOLD EXERCISES IN LATE SUMMER
RIA Novosti
14:34 | 07/ 05/ 2009
MOSCOW, May 7 (RIA Novosti) – The joint rapid-reaction forces of
a post-Soviet regional security bloc will hold military exercises
in August-September in Kazakhstan, a Russian first deputy foreign
minister announced on Thursday.
Andrei Denisov said the development of the Collective Security Treaty
Organization’s rapid-reaction force was a topic of discussion at
an ongoing meeting of CSTO deputy foreign, defense, and economics
ministers at the Russian Foreign Ministry.
The Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO), which comprises
Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Uzbekistan and
Tajikistan, agreed in early February to set up the rapid-reaction
force.
President Dmitry Medvedev earlier said that the force should be
well-organized and equipped to counter a variety of threats.
The Russian president also said the CSTO was open for cooperation
with the United States in the fight against terrorism in Central Asia.
The rapid-reaction force, which Medvedev has said "will be just as
good as comparable NATO forces," will be used to repulse military
aggression, conduct anti-terrorist operations, fight transnational
crime and drug trafficking, and neutralize the effects of natural
disasters.
Moscow has stressed that collective forces will not interfere in the
domestic conflicts of the bloc’s member countries.