CSTO can not be a guarantor of security of Armenia

Membership in the Organization of Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) does not guarantee the security of Armenia, said  on July 20 at a press conference in Yerevan,  the head of the Center for Globalization and Regional Development, Stepan Grigoryan.

     "Uzbekistan's withdrawal from the CSTO should force Armenia to think, since it is obvious that this structure can not guarantee the security of the republic,"  said the analyst.

     CSTO has been existing for a long time, and instead of strengthening its position and increasing the number of participants,  it loses them. Uzbekistan has understood it and decided to leave the organization to further improving relations with NATO and the United States.

    "Tashkent, is well aware that USA  and NATO, which should withdraw military equipment  from Afghanistan,  will not take them back, and they intend to place it in Central Asia,  and Uzbekistan can take some of these weapons, thus creating additional security guarantees for its own sake.

   CSTO does not allow to deploy military equipment of other states on the territory of the members of the agreement, and therefore Tashkent  preferred to exchange the Collective Security Treaty Organization  for NATO," said Grigoryan.

     Armenia  must understand that it is important  not to be deceived again  with  unnecessary 

projects in the form of the Eurasian Union, which means lost  time. 

Collective Security Treaty Organization  is a military-political union created  by several States of Eurasia (Armenia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan, and then they were joined by Azerbaijan, Georgia, Belarus) ; it has been functioning  since May 15, 1992. In 1999, Azerbaijan and Georgia have suspended membership in the organization.  On June 28, 2012  Uzbekistan suspended membership in the CSTO. For today there are six  countries in the CSTO. -02D-