CSTO presidents to discuss situation in Kyrgyzstan Sat.

MOSCOW, May 8 (Itar-Tass) -- The situation in Kyrgyzstan and other
most crucial international issues will be on the agenda of Saturday's
informal summit of the Collective Security Treaty Organization
member-countries. The informal nature of this event "does not rule out the
adoption of joint documents (statements) by the CSTO heads of state on
certain issues to be discussed during the meeting," a senior Kremlin
official told Itar-Tass.
The CSTO is a military-political alliance of seven countries -
Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Tajikistan and
Uzbekistan. Russian President Dmitry Medvedev invited his foreign
counterparts to Moscow for the meeting. As Russian presidential aide
Sergei Prikhodko said earlier, the CIS leaders had been invited in writing
to attend the festivities on the occasion of the 65th anniversary of the
victory over Nazi Germany in World War II and the summits of the CSTO and
the CIS, timed for that event.
At the same time Prikhodko said that Kyrgyzstan's delegation will be
absent from the informal summits.
"They have not formed constitutional bodies of power yet, and they
have not raised the question of their participation in the CIS or the CIS
summits," he said, so the political situation in Kyrgyzstan and its
consequences will be discussed without a representative from that country.
The recent unrest in Kyrgyzstan began in the regional center of Talas,
where the Opposition's supporters gained control of all local bodies of
power. The next day the same happened in all of the country's northern
regions and also in some southern ones. Then the Opposition took control
of the capital Bishkek. President Kurmanbek Bakiyev had to flee to the
south of the country, and then abroad, to Belarus. In the meantime, the
Kyrgyz Opposition formed an interim government under Rosa Otunbayeva. In
the course of street riots and clashes over 80 people died and about 1,500
others were injured.
"The forthcoming meeting of the CSTO heads of state will be another in
a series of informal contacts by the member-countries' leaders. The first
one was in Borovoye, Kazakhstan, on December 19-21, 2008. The follow-up
meeting took place in Cholpon-Ata, Kyrgyzstan on July 31-August 1, 2009,"
the Kremlin official recalled.
This time, he said, some topical issues of the international agenda,
including the situation within the CSTO's area of activity, including
Kyrgyzstan, will be touched upon.
On the list of other likely themes the source mentioned the Russian-US
Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty that was signed on April 8.
The other signatories to START-1, which has now been replaced by the
new treaty, alongside Russia and the United States, were Belarus,
Kazakhstan and Ukraine.
After the talks by the CSTO presidents there will be an informal
meeting of the CIS heads of state.
The CSTO was created on the basis of the Collective Security Treaty of
May 15, 1992. Ten years later the CSTO was converted into an international
organization. Its mission is to maintain the national security and
territorial integrity of each of the member-countries. In case of a threat
to any of the CST signatories all other CSTO members are obliged to
provide the necessary assistance, including military support. Military and
diplomatic relations among the CSTO member-states enjoy priority over the
military ties and contacts with countries not affiliated with the CSTO.
In 2001 there emerged a Collective Rapid Deployment Force of the CSTO
- eleven battalions from Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia and Tajikistan and
the air base at Kant, Kyrgyzstan. On February 4, 2009 the early summit of
the CSTO made a decision to create on the CRDF basis a Collective
Operational Reaction Force. An agreement to that effect was inked in June
2009 by five of the seven CSTO member-countries. Belarus joined in several
months later and Uzbekistan has not signed the agreement to this day.
The new force numbering 10,000-20,000 officers and men will be more
mobile and have more functions than the CRDF. It is expected to tackle
minor armed conflicts - both military and border ones - and also to
conduct special operations in the struggle against international
terrorism, extremism and transnational organized crime and drugs
trafficking and the elimination of the effects of emergencies. Russian
President Dmitry Medvedev believes that the CORF's combat potential should
be in no way inferior to that of its NATO counterparts. CORF exercises
were held last autumn and in April this year.
As CSTO Secretary-General Nikolai Bordyuzha said earlier the CSTO
countries will sign three agreements regarding the CORF this year and
conduct several exercises with the participation of armed forces, interior
ministries, security services and the emergency situations ministries.
"The main guideline for our organization's activity this year will be
the adoption of a second package of documents regarding the Collective
Operational Reaction Force," he said. "In this package there are three
agreements determining the status of the forces and equipment, the rules
of decision-making, the rules of forming the force, and also various
matters of jurisdiction."
"One of the main aspects of our work in 2010 will concern several
combat training events, including exercises at the Chebarkul proving
ground in the Chelyabinsk Region," Bordyuzha said, adding that the same
facility would host exercises by CSTO police, special services and
emergency situations ministries.

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