MOSCOW, June 28 (Itar-Tass) — Collective Security Treaty Organization /CSTO/ confirms that is has received a note from Uzbekistan on suspension of that country’s operations in the format of the organization, the CSTO Press Secretary Vladimir Zainetdinov told Itar-Tass.
“I confirm the CSTO Secretariat has received a note on suspension of Uzbekistan’s activity in the framework of the alliance,” he said. “A legal assessment of the documents we’ve received is underway. Also, we’re drafting a report for the CSTO heads of state.”
Earlier in the day, a well-informed diplomatic source in Moscow said Uzbekistan had suspended its participation in the CSTO.
“The Uzbekistani authorities sent a note to the CSTO Secretariat on suspending their couinry’s membership,” the source said.
Upon Uzbekistan’s withdrawal from the organization, its current members are Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, and Tajikistan.
Uzbekistan was among the founding countries of the CSTO in 1992. Seven years later it suspended its membership.
After an interval of seven years, the government in Tashkent restored the country’s membership. The decision was reaffirmed in a protocol dated August 16, 2006.
The CSTO was set up in the groundwork of a treaty signed in Tashkent May 15, 1992.
May 14, 2002, the Presidents of the signatory countries passed a decision on giving the treaty’s format the status of an international regional organization.
In October 2002, the Presidents signed the CSTO Charter and an agreement on the legal status of the organization. All the member-states ratified these documents by September 18, 2003.
CSTO founding documents say its goal is to rebuff external threats and to defend the territorial integrity and sovereignty of the member-states without interference in their internal political processes.
If a threat emerges for any member-state, all other members of the alliance are obliged to render assistance to it, including military aide.
Defense and political relations among the signatory countries have a priority character compared with relations and contacts with the countries outside the organization.
Countries having no membership of the CSTO are allowed to deploy military bases of non-member states only upon consent of all members.