BELARUS NEWS AND ANALYSIS

DATE:

28/08/2009

Minsk to assume CSTO chairmanship and sign CRRF agreement

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Belarus will assume CSTO chairmanship and sign agreement on Collective Rapid Reaction Forces (CRRF), Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko told journalist Thursday, after finishing negotiations with his Russian colleague Dmitry Medvedev.

Having invested much effort in studying CRRF issues, Belarus cannot but accept the document. "We invested much both in the contents and essence of the agreement," Belarusian President said, stressing the importance of legally formalizing his country's chairmanship.

"We haven't been a chairing country for six months, therefore we decided to undertake chairmanship for the next term as well," Lukashenko said, noting that "it will be probably achieved through a statement by Belarusian side."

As reported by Russian President's press service, Presidents Medvedev and Lukashenko discussed schedule for upcoming meetings, particularly, they agreed to take part in West-2009 military drills due in Belarus on September 29, 2009. Russian President reiterated his willingness to take part in EurAsEC interstate council's session scheduled in Minsk on November 27, BELTA news agency reports.

Russia has temporarily undertaken organization's chairmanship. "CSTO member states agreed to hand over temporary chairmanship to Russia, a country which is going to convene a relevant summit," President Medvedev said in a CSTO summit in Moscow.

Decision to create collective rapid reaction forces (CRRF) was adopted by state leaders on February 4, 2009. Rapid reaction forces will be used for repulsing military aggression, undertaking special operations in fight against international terrorism and extremism, transnational organized crime and drug trafficking, as well as eliminating the impact of emergency situations.

CSTO is a military political union consisting of seven states - Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan. The organization came into existence based on Agreement on Collective Security, dated May 15, 1992.

Source:

http://www.panarmenian.net/news/eng/?nid=35638

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