RusData Dialine – Russian Press Digest
October 13, 2005 Thursday
Eurasian horde
by Mehman Gafarli
SOURCE: Noviye Izvestia, No 187, p.4
Russia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan are creating a
jointarmed force
A major group of forces will be created in Central Asia to protect
regional countries from external military threats, Nikolai Bordyuzha,
general secretary of the Collective Security Treaty Organization
(CSTO’s members are Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia
and Tajikistan), said on October 12. Independent analysts say the
authorities of Russia and some former Soviet republics of Central
Asia need a joint army to fight “color” revolutions.
This rather big army will “consist not of battalions, as the
Collective Rapid Deployment Forces, but of regiments and divisions,
and possibly larger formations,” Bordyuzha said. The regional
countries need it to “protect the sovereignty of CSTO member states
in all directions against a threat of military conflict.”
In case of an all-out war, four of the six member states (Russia,
Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan) will put their armed forces at
the disposal of the organization. In fact, they are creating a
military bloc under the patronage of Russia. Uzbekistan is expected
to join as well.
The main dangers to stability in Central Asia are drugs, terrorism,
political and religious extremism, organized crime, illegal
migration, the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction, and
man-made and natural disasters. However, independent analysts say
that Russia and Central Asian states are creating their military bloc
to prevent “color” revolutions and fight the growing influence of the
United States in the region.
Political scientist Andronik Migranyan, a professor of the Moscow
State University, said it would not be a joint army of Russia and
Central Asian states but a common group of military forces, which is
a normal practice in the world.
