Collective Security Treaty Organization

The Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO; Russian: Организация Договора о Коллективной Безопасности, Organizatsiya Dogovora o Kollektivnoy Bezopasnosti, ODKB) is an intergovernmental military alliance that was signed on 15 May 1992. In 1992, six post-Soviet states belonging to the Commonwealth of Independent States—Russia, Armenia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan—signed the Collective Security Treaty (also referred to as the "Tashkent Pact" or "Tashkent Treaty").[1] Three other post-Soviet states—Azerbaijan, Belarus, and Georgia—signed the next year and the treaty took effect in 1994. Five years later, six of the nine—all but Azerbaijan, Georgia, and Uzbekistan—agreed to renew the treaty for five more years, and in 2002 those six agreed to create the Collective Security Treaty Organization as a military alliance.

Collective Security Treaty Organization
Հավաքական անվտանգության պայմանագրի կազմակերպություն (Armenian)
Арганізацыя Дамовы аб калектыўнай бяспецы (Belarusian)
Ұжымдық қауіпсіздік туралы шарт ұйымы – Újimdyq Qaýipsizdik Týraly Şart Úıymy (Kazakh)
Жамааттык коопсуздук жөнүндө келишим уюму (Kyrgyz)
Организация Договора о коллективной безопасности (Russian)
Созмони Аҳдномаи амнияти дастаҷамъӣ (Tajik)
Flag
Formation15 May 1992 (as Collective Security Treaty)
7 October 2002 (as Collective Security Treaty Organization)
TypeMilitary alliance
HeadquartersMoscow, Russia
Location
Membership
Official language
Russian
Secretary General
Stanislav Zas
Websiteodkb-csto.org

Nikolai Bordyuzha was appointed secretary general of the new organization. On 23 June 2006, Uzbekistan became a full participant in the CSTO; and its membership was ratified by the Uzbek parliament on 28 March 2008.[2] It suspended its membership in 2012. The CSTO is an observer organization at the United Nations General Assembly.

The CSTO charter reaffirmed the desire of all participating states to abstain from the use or threat of force. Signatories would not be able to join other military alliances or other groups of states,[3] while aggression against one signatory would be perceived as an aggression against all. To this end, the CSTO holds yearly military command exercises for the CSTO nations to have an opportunity to improve inter-organization cooperation. A CSTO military exercise called "Rubezh 2008" was hosted in Armenia, where a combined total of 4,000 troops from all seven constituent CSTO member countries conducted operative, strategic and tactical training with an emphasis towards furthering efficiency of the collective security element of the CSTO partnership.[4] The largest of such exercises was held in Southern Russia and central Asia in 2011, consisting of more than 10,000 troops and 70 combat aircraft.[5] In order to deploy military bases of a third country in the territory of the CSTO member-states, it is necessary to obtain the official consent of all its members.[6]

The CSTO employs a "rotating presidency" system in which the country leading the CSTO alternates every year.[7]

History
GUAM Organization for Democracy and Economic DevelopmentGeorgia (country)AzerbaijanUkraineMoldovaTajikistanTurkmenistanCollective Security Treaty OrganizationEurasian Economic UnionUzbekistanKyrgyzstanKazakhstanArmeniaUnion StateBelarusRussiaCommonwealth of Independent StatesCommonwealth of Independent States Free Trade AreaBaltic AssemblyLithuaniaLatviaEstoniaCommunity for Democracy and Rights of NationsTransnistriaAbkhaziaSouth OssetiaRepublic of Artsakh
Euler diagram showing the relationships among various supranational organisations in the territory of the former Soviet Unionv • d • e

The CSTO grew out of the framework of the Commonwealth of Independent States, and first began as the CIS Collective Security Treaty (CST) which was signed on 15 May 1992, by Armenia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russian Federation, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan, in the city of Tashkent. Azerbaijan signed the treaty on 24 September 1993, Georgia on 9 December 1993 and Belarus on 31 December 1993. The treaty came into effect on 20 April 1994.

The CST was set to last for a 5-year period unless extended. On 2 April 1999, only six members of the CST signed a protocol renewing the treaty for another five-year period – Azerbaijan, Georgia and Uzbekistan refused to sign and withdrew from the treaty instead. At the same time Uzbekistan joined the GUAM group, established in 1997 by Georgia, Ukraine, Azerbaijan, and Moldova, and largely seen as intending to counter Russian influence in the region. Uzbekistan later withdrew from GUAM in 2005 and joined the CSTO in 2006 in order to seek closer ties with Russia. On 28 June 2012, Uzbekistan suspended its membership in the CSTO.[8]

Member states
Stamp of Kazakhstan, 2012

Member states of the Collective Security Treaty Organization:

Country Membership Year of entry
 Armenia full member 1994
 Belarus full member 1994
 Kazakhstan full member 1994
 Kyrgyzstan full member 1994
 Russia full member 1994
 Tajikistan full member 1994

Observer states of the Collective Security Treaty Organization:

Country Membership Year of entry
 Afghanistan non-member observer state 2013
 Serbia non-member observer state 2013

Former member states of the Collective Security Treaty Organization:

Country Membership Year of entry Year of withdrawal
 Azerbaijan former member state 1994 1999
 Georgia former member state 1994 1999
 Uzbekistan former member state 1994 (first time)

2006 (second time)

 1999 (first time)

2012 (second time)

Potential future members

In May 2007, the CSTO secretary-general Nikolai Bordyuzha suggested Iran could join the CSTO saying, "The CSTO is an open organization. If Iran applies in accordance with our charter, we will consider the application." If Iran joined it would be the first state outside the former Soviet Union to become a member of the organization.

The Republic of Serbia and the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan have been accorded observer status in the CSTO.[9]

Policy agenda

Information Technology & Cyber Security

Member nations adopted measures to counter cyber security threats and information technology crimes in a Foreign Ministers Council meeting in Minsk, Belarus.[10] Foreign Minister Abdrakhmanov put forward a proposal to establishing a Cyber Shield system.[10]

Recent developments

During 2005, the CSTO partners conducted some common military exercises.

In June 2007, Kyrgyzstan assumed the rotating CSTO presidency.

In October 2007, the CSTO signed an agreement with the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO), in the Tajik capital of Dushanbe, to broaden cooperation on issues such as security, crime, and drug trafficking.[11]

On 6 October 2007, CSTO members agreed to a major expansion of the organization that would create a CSTO peacekeeping force that could deploy under a U.N. mandate or without one in its member states. The expansion would also allow all members to purchase Russian weapons at the same price as Russia.[12]

On 29 August 2008, Russia announced it would seek CSTO recognition of the independence of Abkhazia and South Ossetia. Three days earlier, on 26 August, Russia recognized the independence of Georgia's breakaway regions of Abkhazia and South Ossetia.[13]

On 5 September 2008, Armenia assumed the rotating CSTO presidency during a CSTO meeting in Moscow, Russia.[14]

In 2009, Belarus boycotted the CSTO summit due to their Milk War with Russia.[15]

The CSTO meeting in Nur-Sultan, Kazakhstan, 8 November 2018

On 10 December 2010, the member states approved a declaration establishing a CSTO peacekeeping force and a declaration of the CSTO member states, in addition to signing a package of joint documents.[16]

Since 21 December 2011, the Treaty parties can veto the establishment of new foreign military bases in the member states of the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO). Additionally, Kazakhstan took over the rotating presidency of the CSTO from Belarus.[6]

In August 2014, 3,000 soldiers from the members of Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia and Tajikistan participated in psychological and cyber warfare exercises in Kazakhstan under war games managed by CSTO.[17]

On March 19, 2015, the CSTO Secretary General Nikolai Bordyuzha offered to send a peacekeeping mission to Donbass, Ukraine. "The CSTO has a peacekeeping capacity. Our peacekeepers continuously undergo corresponding training. If such a decision is taken by the United Nations, we stand ready to provide peacekeeping units.”[18]

Collective Rapid Reaction Force
Main article: Collective Rapid Reaction Force

On 4 February 2009, an agreement to create the Collective Rapid Reaction Force (KSOR) (Russian: Коллекти́вные си́лы операти́вного реаги́рования (КСОР)) was reached by five of the seven members, with plans finalized on 14 June. The force is intended to be used to repulse military aggression, conduct anti-terrorist operations, fight transnational crime and drug trafficking, and neutralize the effects of natural disasters. Belarus and Uzbekistan initially refrained from signing on to the agreement; Belarus because of a trade dispute with Russia, and Uzbekistan due to general concerns. Belarus signed the agreement the following October while Uzbekistan has yet to sign it. However a source in the Russian delegation said Uzbekistan would not participate in the collective force on a permanent basis but would "delegate" its detachments to take part in operations on an ad hoc basis.[19][20]

On 3 August 2009, the foreign ministry of Uzbekistan criticized plans by Russia to establish a military base in southern Kyrgyzstan for the CSTO rapid reaction force, stating, "The implementation of such projects on complex and unpredictable territory, where the borders of three Central Asian republics directly converge, may give impetus to the strengthening of militarization processes and initiate all kinds of nationalistic confrontations. […] Also, it could lead to the appearance of radical extremist forces that could lead to serious destabilization in this vast region." [21]

Kyrgyz conflict

After Kurmanbek Bakiyev was ousted from office as President of Kyrgyzstan as a result of riots in Kyrgyzstan in April, 2010, he was granted asylum in Belarus. Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko expressed doubt about the future of the CSTO for failing to prevent Bakiyev's overthrow, stating, "What sort of organization is this one, if there is bloodshed in one of our member states and an anticonstitutional coup d'etat takes place, and this body keeps silent?" [22] Lukashenko had previously accused Russia of punishing Belarus with economic sanctions after Lukashenko's refusal to recognize the independence of Abkhazia and South Ossetia, stating "Economy serves as the basis for our common security. But if Belarus’s closest CSTO ally is trying....to destroy this basis and de facto put the Belarusians on their knees, how can one talk about consolidating collective security in the CSTO space?" [23] After refusing to attend a CSTO summit in 2009, Lukashenko said, "Why should my men fight in Kazakhstan? Mothers would ask me why I sent their sons to fight so far from Belarus. For what? For a unified energy market? That is not what lives depend on. No!"[24]

During a trip to Ukraine to extend Russia's lease of the Crimean port Sevastopol in return for discounted natural gas supplies, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev was asked about whether Belarus could expect a similar deal and responded, "Real partnership is one thing and a declaration of intentions is another; reaching agreement on working seriously, meeting each other halfway, helping each other is one thing and making decisions about granting permanent residence to people who have lost their job is another." The Belarusian President defended himself against this criticism by citing former Russian President Vladimir Putin's invitation of Askar Akayev to Russia after he was ousted as President of Kyrgyzstan during the 2005 Tulip Revolution.[25] The following month, President Medvedev ordered the CEO of Russia's natural gas monopoly Gazprom to cut gas supplies to Belarus.[26] Subsequently, the Russian television channel NTV, run by Gazprom, aired a documentary film which compared Lukashenko to Bakiyev.[27] Then the Russian President's foreign policy adviser Sergei Prikhodko threatened to publish the transcript of a CSTO meeting where Lukashenko said that his administration would recognize Abkhazian and South Ossetian independence.[28]

In June 2010, ethnic clashes broke out between ethnic Kyrgyz and Uzbeks in southern Kyrgyzstan, leading interim Kyrgyz President Roza Otunbayeva to request the assistance of Russian troops to quell the disturbances. Kurmanbek Bakiyev denied charges that his supporters were behind the ethnic conflict and called on the CSTO to intervene.[29] Askar Akayev also called for the CSTO to send troops saying, "Our priority task right now should be to extinguish this flame of enmity. It is very likely that we will need CSTO peacekeepers to do that." [30] Russian President Dmitry Medvedev said that "only in the case of a foreign intrusion and an attempt to externally seize power can we state that there is an attack against the CSTO," and that, "all the problems of Kyrgyzstan have internal roots," while CSTO Secretary General Nikolai Bordyuzha called the violence "purely a domestic affair." [31] Later, however, Bordyuzha admitted that the CSTO response may have been inadequate and claimed that "foreign mercenaries" provoked the Kyrgyz violence against ethnic Uzbek minorities.[32]

On 21 July 2010, interim Kyrgyz President Roza Otunbayeva called for the introduction of CSTO police units to southern Kyrgyzstan saying, "I think it’s important to introduce CSTO police forces there, since we’re unable to guarantee people’s rights on our own," but added "I’m not seeking the CSTO’s embrace and I don’t feel like bringing them here to stay but the bloodletting there will continue otherwise." [33] Only weeks later the deputy chairman of Otubayeva's interim Kyrgyz government complained that their appeals for help from the CSTO had been ignored.[34] The CSTO was unable to agree on providing military assistance to Kyrgyzstan at a meeting in Yerevan, Armenia, which was attended by Roza Otunbayeva as well as Alexander Lukashenko.[35]

Military personnel

The following list is sourced from the 2018 edition of "The Military Balance" published annually by the International Institute for Strategic Studies.

Flag Country Active military Reserve military Paramilitary Total Per 1000 capita
(total)		 Per 1000 capita
(active)
Armenia[36][Note 1][Note 2] 44,800 210,000 4,300 259,100 85.1 14.7
Belarus[37] 45,350 289,500 110,000 444,850 46.6 4.7
Kazakhstan[38] 39,000 0 31,500 70,500 3.8 2.1
Kyrgyzstan[39] 10,900 0 9,500 20,400 3.5 1.9
Russia[40][Note 3] 900,000 2,000,000 554,000 3,454,000 24.3 6.3
Tajikistan[41] 8,800 0 7,500 16,300 1.9 1
gollark: To really shrink your C binary try osmarkslibc™, coming soon.
gollark: Large binaries probably yes. Rust also does that. Nim doesn't somehow. I don't know why or particularly care.
gollark: But both seem to have pretty large dependency trees.
gollark: Might be a difference in dependency culture I guess.
gollark: Really? I find it to go much faster on average go programs versus average rust ones.

See also

Notes
  1. The reserve military of Armenia consists mostly of ex-conscripts who have seen service within the last 15 years.
  2. Does not include Army forces of Artsakh, which has an Armenian backed army.
  3. The potential reserve personnel of Russia may be as high as 20 million, depending on how the figures are counted. However, an est. 2 million have seen military service within the last 5 years.

References
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  2. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 27 February 2014. Retrieved 2014-12-24.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  3. Obydenkova, Anastassia (23 November 2010). "Comparative regionalism: Eurasian cooperation and European integration. The case for neofunctionalism?". Journal of Eurasian Studies. 2 (2): 91. doi:10.1016/j.euras.2011.03.001.
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  5. J. Berkshire Miller, The Diplomat. "Russia Launches War Games". The Diplomat. Archived from the original on 26 September 2011. Retrieved 26 September 2011.
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  9. "Парламентские делегации Республики Сербия и Исламской Республики Афганистан получили статус наблюдателей при Парламентской Ассамблее ОДКБ". odkb-csto.org. Archived from the original on 23 July 2013. Retrieved 13 April 2013.
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  11. "Daily Times – Leading News Resource of Pakistan". Archived from the original on 11 September 2013. Retrieved 6 October 2007.
  12. "Gendarme of Eurasia – Kommersant Moscow". Archived from the original on 1 February 2014.
  13. "Kremlin announces that South Ossetia will join 'one united Russian state". Archived from the original on 3 September 2008. Retrieved 30 August 2008.
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  15. "Belarus leader may snub Moscow security meet". Reuters. 13 June 2009. Archived from the original on 27 May 2018. Retrieved 18 February 2020.
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  18. "Bordyuzha: CSTO ready to deploy its peacekeepers to resolve conflict in Ukraine". Archived from the original on 2 April 2015. Retrieved 21 March 2015.
  19. Sputnik (4 February 2009). "CSTO's rapid-reaction force to equal NATO's – Medvedev". Archived from the original on 5 February 2009. Retrieved 4 February 2009.
  20. With Russian Prodding, CSTO Begins Taking Shape Archived 24 December 2014 at the Wayback Machine Retrieved on 24 November 2009
  21. Tashkent Throws Temper Tantrum over New Russian Base in Kyrgyzstan Archived 16 May 2010 at the Wayback Machine, EurasiaNet, 3 August 2009
  22. Belarus leader raps Russia, may snub security summit Archived 29 September 2010 at the Wayback Machine, Reuters, 25 April 2010.
  23. Belarus-Russia rift widens, Minsk snubs Moscow meet Archived 26 January 2010 at the Wayback Machine, Reuters, 14 June 2009.
  24. Lukashenko Plays Coy With Kremlin Archived 22 June 2011 at the Wayback Machine, Moscow Times, 28 August 2009.
  25. Lukashenka dismisses Moscow’s criticism over Bakiyev Archived 7 July 2011 at the Wayback Machine, Belaplan, 25 April 2010.
  26. Russia Cuts Gas Supplies to Belarus Archived 24 June 2010 at the Wayback Machine, VOANews, 21 June 2010.
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  28. Tensions flare between Kremlin, Belarus strongman Archived 24 February 2013 at the Wayback Machine, Agence France-Presse, 14 August 2010.
  29. Moscow-led bloc may try to quell Kyrgyz clashes, Reuters, 14 June 2010.
  30. Cases of cash paid for Kyrgyz unrest – former president Archived 19 June 2010 at the Wayback Machine, Russia Today, 17 June 2010.
  31. Kyrgyzstan tests Russia's regional commitments Archived 2 October 2012 at the Wayback Machine, GlobalPost, 15 June 2010.
  32. CSTO Chief Says Foreign Mercenaries Provoked Race Riots In Kyrgyzstan Archived 6 July 2010 at the Wayback Machine, Eurasia Review, 1 July 2010.
  33. Kyrgyzstan takes decision on deploying CIS police force in South, Itar-Tass, 21 July 2010.
  34. Kyrgyz Official Criticizes Foreign Partners Archived 12 August 2010 at the Wayback Machine, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, 11 August 2010.
  35. Russian-led bloc undecided on aid for Kyrgyzstan Archived 5 March 2016 at the Wayback Machine, Reuters, 20 August 2010.
  36. IISS 2018, pp. 181
  37. IISS 2018, pp. 185
  38. IISS 2018, pp. 188
  39. IISS 2018, pp. 190
  40. IISS 2018, pp. 192
  41. IISS 2018, pp. 207

Bibliography

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