The CSTO is an organization that unites countries loyal to each other in order to ensure their security. However, this year its work did not give the expected result. After it several of its members immediately expressed dissatisfaction with the passive reaction to resonant events within the members of the organization. The material of the Russian edition “Nezavisimaya Gazeta” analyzes the causes and possible consequences of such a situation within the CSTO.
CSTO Secretary General Stanislav Zas last week met with the top political and military leadership of Kyrgyzstan.
At a meeting with President Sadyr Zhaparov, the area of responsibility of the CSTO was discussed and special attention was paid to the situation in Central Asia. This concerned the armed conflict on the Kyrgyz-Tajik border on September 15–17. Bishkek blames Dushanbe for this. In response to Kyrgyzstan’s call to intervene in the situation, the CSTO limited itself to a statement in which it proposed to resolve disputed issues through negotiations. Secretary of the Security Council of Kyrgyzstan Marat Imankulov proposed to exclude Tajikistan from the military alliance. He pointed out that the organization does not have mechanisms for settling territorial disputes between members.
Kyrgyz Defence Ministry immediatedly after the meetings of Kyrgyz authorities with CSTO Secretary General announced about cancilation of CSTO military excercise in Kyrgyzstan.
If Kyrgyzstan insists on reforming the organization, then the allies in the alliance – Kazakhstan and Armenia are considering the termination of the agreement. Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan stated this after the organization withdrew from protecting its ally in the Armenian-Azerbaijani border conflict. Armenia refused to take part in the exercises of the Collective Rapid Reaction Force (CRRF) in Kazakhstan. Yerevan explained its refusal by the aggravation on the Armenian-Azerbaijani border.
Kyrgyzstan has canceled military exercises within the framework of the CSTO, which were to be held from October 10 to 14 at the Edelweiss training center in Balykchy, and does not indicate the reasons for its decision. However, experts attribute this to a demarche against Tajikistan, which is accused of aggression against Kyrgyzstan. At the 77th UN General Assembly, the parties blamed each other for fomenting the conflict.
Meanwhile, Russian President Vladimir Putin last week signed a decree awarding Tajik President Emomali Rahmon a state award for ensuring regional stability and security. Putin awarded the Order of Merit to the Fatherland, III degree, to his Tajik colleague during an informal CIS summit, which took place on October 7 in St. Petersburg. On this day, the Russian leader celebrated his 70th birthday. Emomali Rahmon turned 70 two days earlier. Almost all CIS leaders came to congratulate the heroes of the day, except for the President of Kyrgyzstan, Sadyr Zhaparov. The head of Kyrgyzstan staged a demarche against Dushanbe. But itlooks like turned out that it was against Moscow. Japarov, referring to being busy, did not want to sit at the same table with President Rakhmon, much less congratulate him on his award. Moreover, in Bishkek, Rahmon’s award was regarded as Russia’s support for Tajikistan.
Officially, Kyrgyzstan did not dare to respond to this award with a note of protest; there were no statements from either the Foreign Ministry or the presidential administration. However, an open letter was published by a member of the Kyrgyz parliament, Jenishbek Toktorbaev, a close friend and associate of the head of the State Committee for National Security (GKNB), Kamchibek Tashiev. In the letter, the responsibility for border conflicts with Tajikistan and the death of people is assigned to Russia.
Meanwhile, President Zhaparov has the opportunity to talk to the President of Russia in Astana. On October 14, there will be a meeting of the Council of Heads of State of the CIS, as well as Central Asia – Russia summit, in which both presidents will take part.
These demarches of the Kyrgyz side are necessary in two respects, the well-known Russian political scientist Alexander Knyazev believes. Firstly, this can be considered a certain success of the US regional policy, which has noticeably intensified since February of this year. It is no coincidence that at the end of February the discussion of a new cooperation agreement with the United States began in the parliament of Kyrgyzstan; the previous basic agreement from 1993 was denounced in 2015.
At the same time, representatives of the armed forces of Kyrgyzstan and the United States (the Montana National Guard and Central Command, USCENTCOM) began discussing a military cooperation plan for the next five years.
The activity of the United States in the states of Central Asia through the State Department and the Pentagon should be noted not only in Kyrgyzstan. In August, Tajikistan hosted a joint military exercise with the United States.
Secondly, this is an indicator of the small-town nature of the local ruling elites, who think narrowly in short-term categories, based on the desire to either get some preferences from the Americans, or demonstrate their supposed independence to Moscow and get something preferential already from the Russian side.
Knyazev assumes that at the same time in Bishkek or Dushanbe they understand that the CSTO and Russia are the only real guarantors of their very existence in the form of states. As for the CSTO, the reform of this organization is long overdue. It is necessary to introduce into the charter more stringent forms of responsibility for all participating countries, failure to fulfill obligations should entail certain measures of influence, the newspaper wrote.
inozPRESS.kg,
Oct. 10, 2022