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Lukashenka heads back for Belarus after security summit in Kyrgyzstan

Alyaksandr Lukashenka on Saturday headed back for Belarus after an informal summit of the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) in Kyrgyzstan.

Held at a lakeside resort of Cholpon-Ata, the July 31 summit brought together the leaders of the bloc’s six member states, including Russian President Dmitry Medvedev.

The two-hour meeting focused on security issues and fight against international terrorism and religious extremism in the CSTO region and across the world, the Belarusian leader’s press office said.

The presidents agreed to pursue a coordinated information policy and establish a center of information technologies in Russia for training IT experts. They also backed Kyrgyzstan’s proposal for a youth center for "military and sports organizations" of CSTO countries to be opened near Lake Issyk Kul.

The terse press statements said nothing about whether Mr. Lukashenka had signed the CSTO’s agreement on the establishment of a collective rapid response force.

All CSTO member states except Belarus and Uzbekistan signed the agreement at a summit held in Moscow on June 14. The Belarusian leader boycotted the meeting in protest against Russia’s decision to ban the import of nearly all dairy products from Belarus earlier that month.

Minsk called the accord invalid because it said that the Organization’s fundamental rule, the rule of consensus decision-making, had been ignored. According to the Belarusian foreign ministry, from a legal viewpoint, the decisions adopted in Moscow were decisions by a group of states and would not be decisions by the Collective Security Treaty Organization until approved by Belarus. Russia insists that all the decisions made at the summit have legal force.

The Russian president’s aide, Sergei Prikhodko, told reporters on July 29 that Moscow hoped that Mr. Lukashenka would attend Friday`s summit and that Belarus would finally put its signature to the documents providing for the establishment of the CSTO’s Collective Rapid Response Force.

Belarus is a sovereign country and will decide for itself what CSTO documents it will sign and when, Mr. Lukashenka`s aide, Valyantsin Rybakow, commented on Mr. Prikhodko`s remarks later in the day.

The CSTO comprises Armenia, Belarus, Russia and four Central Asian nations: Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan.

The Collective Rapid Response Force (CRRF) is expected to be stationed in Russia and be under a single command. Personnel of Russia’s 98th Airborne Division and 31st Assault Landing Brigade may form the core of the Force.

The CRRF would be used for repelling “military aggression,” conducting operations to combat international terrorism and extremism, transnational organized crime and drug trafficking, dealing with the aftermath of natural and man-made disasters, and ensuring the CSTO’s efficient participation in the maintenance of international peace and security. //BelaPAN