MOSCOW - A number of high-profile gatherings in the Russian capital seemingly indicate that the Kremlin is seeking to boost its influence among at least some selected former Soviet states.
In an attempt to develop post-Soviet Union military and security ties, the foreign and defense ministers of the Collective Security Treaty (CST) met in
Moscow on Monday, before a summit of CST leaders was held in the Russian capital on Tuesday. The heads of state of Russia, Belarus, Armenia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan discussed their multilateral Collective Security Forces, as well as plans to create a sort of joint chief of staff of the CST.
The summit marked the group's 10th anniversary since the CST was formed on May 15, 1992. On Tuesday, the presidents decided to transform the CST into a
new international body, the Collective Security Treaty Organization, or CSTO. By July 1, a joint working group is to be created, tasked with drafting the CSTO's blueprints by November 1.
Russian President Vladimir Putin assumed the CSTO chairmanship and the summit also decided to keep Russian General Valery Nikolayenko as the head of the CST. The CSTO leaders agreed to trade weapons among member states at internal, low prices.
At their Monday meeting, the CST foreign and defense ministers urged their presidents to create a joint military body on the basis of Russia's General Staff and to be commanded by Russian Chief of General Staff Anatoly Kvashnin. Clearly, this plan implied something reminiscent of the former Warsaw Pact joint military command. However, the CST leaders subsequently failed to agree on a joint military command under Russian control. Instead, they decided to create "a group of coordinators-representatives of chiefs of general staff of the CSTO", something falling short of the former Warsaw Pact-style joint military command.
Despite this setback, the CST leaders tried to sound upbeat. The CST should cooperate with both the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) and the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO), Putin declared on Tuesday.The CST is not supposed to defend the energy interests of its member states, as the organization has a broader task of safeguarding regional security, Putin was
quoted as saying by the Russian Information Agency (RIA). Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev described the CST as a sort of "insurance policy" against outside threats. Moreover, Belarussian President Alexander Lukashenko urged the creation of a stronger organization. The CSTO should become a "strong center of power" among post-Soviet states, strong enough that NATO would take it into account, Lukashenko stated.
Last year, the CST agreed to set up joint rapid-reaction forces for Central Asia and has already held a series of military exercises. The most recent maneuvers were held on Sunday through Tuesday in Gorokhovets in Russia's Nizhny Novgorod region, under the command of Russian General Alexey Merkuriyev, commander of the 22nd Army. Some 1,000 military personnel, including a tank battalion, artillery and air defense units, 20 helicopters and six fighter jets took part. The next exercises are to be held in Kyrgyzstan in June.
The six post-Soviet nations make up the CST (also known under its Russian acronym DKB) within the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS). The presidents of Russia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Belarus and Armenia met in the Kyrgyz capital Bishkek in October 2000 to sign an agreement on a status of the Collective Security military forces - to be assembled in case of need by member states. The forces are to be used to combat outside aggression, to carry out "anti-terrorist" operations or to be involved in military maneuvers.
Moreover, on Wednesday, defense ministers from the SCO, which includes Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, China and Russia, gathered in Moscow to discuss the next SCO summit, which is to be held on June 7 in St Petersburg. According to RIA, Chinese Defense Minister Chi Haotian is due to
discuss an upcoming visit to China by his Russian counterpart Sergei Ivanov.
And apart from the security gathering, a meeting of the Eurasian Economic Commonwealth (EEC) was convened in Moscow on Monday. The EEC leaders agreed to refrain from punitive tariffs in multilateral trade and to coordinate their respective bids for World Trade Organization (WTO) membership. So far,
only one EEC member state, Kyrgyzstan, has joined the WTO. The summit also approved Moldova's and Ukraine's observer status within the EEC. Although at
the summit Putin was supposed to assume the EEC chairmanship, the Russian leader suggested that Kazakh President Nazarbayev keep it.
Within the CIS, the EEC comprises Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Russia, which leads the group. "We would not have created the EEC if we had not believed in its future," Putin said on Monday.
At a summit meeting of the CIS held in the Belarussian capital Minsk last May, Russia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan decided to turn their customs union into the EEC, aiming at liberalizing mutual trade. However, the group's efforts to forge closer economic ties still largely lack substance, producing mainly paperwork. Subsequently, the EEC's plans of economic integration sound somewhat reminiscent of the former COMECON (Council for Mutual Economic Cooperation), which oversaw trade among the communist countries of the Eastern and Central Europe.
Because of its economic might, Russia has more to say in the Eurasian Commonwealth. Russia has a 40 percent vote in the EEC, Belarus and Kazakhstan 20 percent each, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan 10 percent each. However, Russia is responsible for some 85 percent of the EEC's economic potential.
Therefore, it is understood that Russia has moved to push for more post-Soviet security and economic cooperation as Moscow still considers itself to be a leading regional power. However, the path from the Kremlin's plans on paper to reality seemingly proved fraught with potholes as the proposed joint military command failed to materialize.