23 May 2003 10:44
CIS defence body to extend rapid deployment units, limits arms exports
Moscow, 23 May: Rapid deployment units will soon be created in the Caucasian and East European sectors,
secretary-general of the Collective Security Council, Nikolay Bordyuzha, said at a press conference here today.
According to his information, "this is included in political plans of leaders of the member states".
Bordyuzha recalled that rapid deployment units operated in the Central Asian sector. They are made up of four
battalions, dispatched there by the armed forces of Russia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan.
Responding to the question about easy-term arms deliveries, Bordyuzha said that "the mechanism of contracts on
those deliveries is recorded in the charter of the Collective Security Treaty Organization, which was adopted at the
summit of presidents of its member countries held in Dushanbe last April". "A member country, which receives
armaments at reduced prices, cannot export them to third countries," he stressed.
Bordyuzha said in conclusion that a joint staff of the Collective Security Treaty Organization would start
functioning on 1 January 2004.
[ITAR-TASS news agency] |
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