RUSSIA AND FORMER SOVIET REPUBLICS PREPARE TO REPEL “LARGE SCALE AGGRESSIVE ATTACK”

COMMENTARY ARCHIVES, 2 Jun 2009

Voice of Russia

CSTO Major Military Grouping to Ensure Stability in Central Asia

The Collective Security Treaty Organization, or CSTO, plans to set up a powerful military grouping in Central Asia to guarantee stability in the extremely important region, says the CSTO press secretary Vitaly Strugovets.

Russia jointly with Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan, is setting up in the region a powerful military grouping that could repel a large-scale aggressive attack, says Vitaly Strugovets. The CSTO Central Asian grouping is meant for waging so-called big wars, not for settling local conflicts. To cope with the latter, the official points out, there is the Joint Rapid Deployment Force.

The grouping is due to comprise tank, artillery and air force units of the five countries, and also the Russian and Kazakh naval force on the Caspian Sea. The setting up of the grouping has been discussed for several years now and is as good as settled. Relevant agreements have been drafted and are now through final coordination in the CSTO member-states.

Moscow will assign to the grouping an air-borne division and an air-assault brigade, totalling some 8,000 servicemen. Kazakhstan will contribute a 4,000 strong air-assault brigade. The other member-states will offer no more than a battalion each. The troops will be deployed at their permanent bases and will be flown, whenever necessary, to where military operations are due to be launched. Military experts feel the creation in Central Asia of a CSTO powerful military grouping will make it possible to guarantee stability throughout the region. An expert with the Institute for Strategic Research Azhdar Kurtov shares the assessment and adds that…

… it should be some real force that could guarantee security in the post-Soviet area. The world has not grown a safer place to live in, evidence of which has been aplenty in the past 20 years, specifically the numerous conflicts that flare up even in Europe. I believe the CSTO is following the right path. But I wish the time between some decisions made or documents signed and actual action on these agreements were not as long as it is today. One shouldn’t tolerate many-year red-tape delays. After all, security is so grave and important a thing that it calls for greater flexibility and operational efficiency both among politicians and government officials.

The creation of the Central Asian military grouping has been pushed back a little over the fact that the CSTO countries are now focused on setting up their Joint Rapid Reaction force. The interaction of the five countries’ troops, including their ground force, air force and naval components, was tested during a joint military exercise back in 2006. It was then that many aspects of setting up the Central Asian military grouping were tested in practical terms to see if the troops were capable of effective interaction.

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