CSTO declares readiness for interaction with NATO
"Being aware of our responsibility for lasting peace in the Euro-Atlantic region, we confirm our readiness to start practical interaction with NATO on the principles of indivisible security," the document runs.
"We are particularly concerned about the exacerbating situation in Afghanistan, which borders on the CSTO zone of responsibility. We proceed from the premise that the achievement of peace and stability in Afghanistan is a key factor of regional and international security. We advocate the development of Afghanistan as a peaceful, prosperous, independent and neutral state," it said.
The CSTO member states also defined their attitude to the U.S. missile defense. "Member states of the Collective Security Treaty Organization affirm that the unilateral deployment of strategic missile defense systems by one state or a group of states without due account of lawful interests of other countries and without legally binding guarantees may harm international security and strategic stability in Europe and the world at large," the document says.
"In the period since the signing of the treaty, international relations have been frequently witnessing tensions," the CSTO leaders said. "We are seriously concerned about the growing trend towards military interference in crises. We are also concerned about attempts to act in evasion of international legal norms and principles and to make use of temporary problems of certain countries and peoples."
"The treaty signed in Tashkent in 1992 duly performs it main function of an instrument of the provision of security, stability, sovereignty and territorial integrity of its member states. Our efforts aimed to strengthen the treaty and to adapt it to the modern geopolitical situation have resulted in the intensification of military-political cooperation and the suppression of new threats and challenges," the document says.
"The CSTO established in 2002 brought the cooperation of its member states to a new level of the allied relationship," the document says. "The organization is transforming into a multi-role structure providing security and stability and the sphere of its activity is spreading into the suppression of terrorism, drug trafficking, illegal arms trade and organized transnational crime, as well as peacekeeping, prevention and cleanup of emergency situations, and others"; Kazinform cites Itar-Tass.
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