Leaders to discuss possible synergy of CSTO states' military potential
MOSCOW. Nov 15 (Interfax-AVN) - The prospects for military cooperation and ways to rationally apply the joint combat potential of the Collective Security Treaty Organization will be addressed by the Collective Security Council, which is due to meet in Moscow on December 19, CSTO Secretary General Nikolai Bordyuzha told journalists.
"Two issues are expected to be placed on the session's agenda. Firstly, it will be avenues for the development of our military cooperation. Kazakhstan's defense minister, who today chairs the CSTO Defense Ministers' Council, will deliver a speech on this topic. Secondly, the chief of the Russian Armed Forces General Staff, in his speech, plans to outline military officials' suggestions on ways to combine the states' potential and use the means available to them more rationally," he said.
Bordyuzha said he was primarily speaking about the capabilities of Russia's military potential in Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan and Armenia.
"These issues deal with missile defense and the use of aviation components, in other words components which cost the most," he said.
"The question is how these means can be used rationally. Is there a need to build an air defense shield or a missile defense system in Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan? Is there a need to form Kyrgyzstan's Air Force, investing billions of rubles in it? Or, what would happen if we decide to use the capabilities available to Russia? All of these questions will be addressed by the Collective Security Council at its session," Bordyuzha said.
The CSTO includes Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia and Tajikistan. Uzbekistan has suspended its membership in the organization.