Amendments to the Collective Security Treaty (CST) are not linked with the presence of the U.S. Manas base in Kyrgyzstan, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Alexei Borodavkin said at the State Duma on Friday, responding to questions of MPs about a decisions that could be made by the member countries of the Collective Security Treaty Organisation (CSTO), and about possible reply measures that could be taken by the United States, Itar-Tass reported.
He recommended to the Duma to ratify the protocol on changes and amendments to the Collective Security Treaty, dated May 15, 1992.
"The U.S. base is deployed on the territory of Kyrgyzstan as a result of an agreement reached by those two countries," Borodavkin said. "This is a sovereign right of an independent country - to conclude such agreements. There is no direct connection between cooperation within the framework of CSTO and the presence of the base."
At the same time, he continued, "when the anti-terrorist operation in Afghanistan is over, when the U.S. troops are withdrawn from the country and there will be no longer necessary to supply armaments and munitions to them, then U.S. military presence should be cut down in the whole of Central Asia. We insist on it."
Borodavkin reminded that the draft protocol on changes and amendments to the Collective Security Treaty was made in accordance with the agreements, reached by the CSTO member countries in August 2010. The document was approved at the CSTO session, held in Moscow in December 2010.
"The protocol provides for the putting of CST into line with the real situation, which took shape after the creation of CSTO in 2002, as well as with the experience of CSTO work, including in connection with the developments in Kyrgyzstan in 2010," Borodavkin continued. "The document makes amendments to the articles dealing with the working out and putting into effect of measures, aimed at helping the CSTO member countries to ward off not only aggressions from the outside, but also other threats to their security, stability, territorial integrity and sovereignty. Commitments on collective actions for removing threats to the security of the CSTO members will be expanded. When responding to crisis situations, the document provides for the use not of the armed forces of the CSTO members, but of the collective security troops and facilities, including the police, the security services and EMERCOM units."
"The Charter changes the provision on the CST depositary. Under the Charter, the depository is the CSTO Director-General, and not Belarus, as before."
According to Borodavkin, "the provision saying that the coordination of the actions of the Armed Forces will be done by the chief command of the CIS Armed Forces, has been removed." He explained that, starting from 2002, those functions have been performed by the CSTO Council of Defence Ministers.
Borodavkin stressed that "the protocol is subject to ratification, because it is connected with the defence potential of Russia, and it does not include items, which would be at variance with the Russian legislation." "The ratification will not call for additional expenditures from the federal budget," he added.
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