CSTO COUNTRIES HOLD JOINT EXERCISES IN KYRGYZSTAN

MOSCOW, 2004-08-11

Nikolai Bordyuzha, general secretary of the Collective Security Treaty Organisation (CSTO), praised the recent joint exercise of the CSTO armed forces in Kyrgyzstan. He said the entire process of making decisions on the use of the Collective Rapid Deployment Force "to neutralise a deteriorating situation in a CSTO member state" was tested during the exercise.

It was the first exercise of its kind, and not only in terms of the number of participants. It was not based on purely military elements but on so-called organisational issues designed to improve the decision-making mechanism to use military force "to neutralise a deteriorating situation within the CSTO borders." Mr Bordyuzha explained that in such cases decisions are taken during consultations between the heads of state who "decide on the use of force by consensus, after which the military component of the organisation steps in."

The exercise simulated a situation in southern Kyrgyzstan in 1999, when the units of the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan invaded the region. The "operation" was planned as an anti-terrorist one, which entailed the evacuation of civilians from the area occupied by terrorists, the blocking of a bandit group, liberation of possible hostages, the neutralisation and elimination of the terrorists, and provision of assistance to the local population.

Another major element of the exercise was "training in co-ordinated actions of the military units of the states involved in the operation under a single command." In this case, the defence minister of Kyrgyzstan supervised the operation carried out by military units from Russia, Tajikistan, Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan. The air forces of three of these states likewise acted by a common plan and under single command. The air operation was supervised from the Russian A-50 early warning and control aircraft, which monitored all planes involved in the exercise.

The CSTO leadership believes that military threats against individual states are not at the top of the agenda now, as the biggest threat comes from international terrorism. "In the CSTO's opinion, terrorism has become a kind of international operation and terrorist organisations, an entity of international activities." It is in this context that the development of the CSTO's Collective Rapid deployment Force is envisaged.

According to Bordyuzha, "In terms of numbers, the Collective Rapid Deployment Force created within the CSTO is enough to react promptly to changes in the regional situation." The force consists of 11 "highly trained" battalions "that can fulfil the tasks we set them." The CSTO leadership can react to aggravations in a situation appropriately and quickly. "We need as little as 1.5-2 hours for the heads of state to take decisions on the use of force in the event of local aggravations in the situation. The military will need another few hours to airlift the troops to the site," said the general secretary.

The CSTO has a plan for the development of the Collective Rapid Deployment Force until 2010, which provides for standardised uniforms and equipment of the Force and transition to contract service. The member states may transfer from battalion to brigade level. "In my opinion, it would be best to create brigades in the Force that would act under a single command," said Mr Bordyuzha.

The CSTO has also approved a concept for peacekeeping operations, which stipulates "the creation of a peacekeeping base, with the permission of [member] states, so that the peacekeeping forces be trained under a common system." The CSTO is ready "to use this peacekeeping base under the auspices of the UN in the territory of CSTO member stated and, at the request of the UN, elsewhere in the world."

RIA Novosti commentator Pyotr Goncharov