BELARUS NEWS AND ANALYSIS

DATE:

04/06/2009

CSTO to organize military drills in Russia, Kazakhstan and Belarus

Minsk, Belarus - Between August and September as a reaction to those held by NATO in Georgia

(WAPA) - Russia, Belarus and Kazakhstan will hold, between August and September, a wide series of joint military exercises organized by CSTO (Collective Security Treaty Organization). Belarusian defense minister, Leonid Maltsev, yesterday announced it after a meeting with its counterparts from other treaty-member countries.

"The joint drills - Maltsev explained - will be held to practice the deployment of CSTO's joint rapid-reaction force". Members of the former-soviet alliance are Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan. According to some news sources, Moscow wants to realize a joint military force in central Asia similar to NATO forces in Europe.

On Monday NATO successfully completed its one-month-long exercises in Georgia. According to local authorities this achievement was reached "Despite the tense internal political situation". NATO pushes to let the republic become one of its members while Russia strongly opposes this possibility. Furthermore the South Ossetia question is still open: on Sunday elections have been held in the region. These are not recognized by Western countries, while Moscow recognizes South Ossetia as an independent nation. This was one of the reasons of August 2008 short war between Russia and Georgia. (Avionews)

Source:

http://www.avionews.com/index.php?corpo=see_news_home.php&news_id=1105386&pagina_chiamante=index.php

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