Post-Soviet states, China set to hold joint military exercises

Post-Soviet states, China set to hold joint military exercises


MOSCOW, May 18 (RIA Novosti) - Two regional security organizations comprising post-Soviet nations and China are planning joint military exercises, the chief of Russia's general staff said Thursday.

"We are currently discussing a joint exercise under the aegis of the SCO [Shanghai Cooperation Organization]," Yury Baluyevsky said, adding that the date of the exercise, which would also involve troops from Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) nations, had yet to be decided.

Baluyevsky said the exercises would practice joint counteraction against terrorist threats.

The chiefs of the CSTO nations' general staffs held a meeting in Moscow Thursday to discuss ways to make the collective security system more effective, including by improving control of the Collective Rapid Reaction Force, which currently numbers 1,500 military personnel deployed in Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, and Tajikistan.

The Shanghai Cooperation Organization, which comprises the former Soviet republics in Central Asia - Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan - as well as Russia and China, was created in 2001 to deal with security issues, including border conflicts, terrorism, and militant Islam.

These countries, without China, also form the CSTO, which also includes Belarus and Armenia. The CSTO is seen by some experts as a counterbalance to NATO's eastward expansion.

Unlike the CSTO, the Shanghai Cooperation Organization does not have in its charter a provision on collective defense of its member by others in the event of an outside attack. It was created to counter attacks by illegal armed groups if they cross the border of a member-country, and its military activities are rather limited, although two of its members, Russia and China, held major war games last fall.