MOSCOW, April 21. /ITAR-TASS/. Russia could not build an equal partnership and mutually advantageous cooperation with NATO, Russian Deputy Defense Minister Anatoly Antonov said.
The CSTO is a military-political alliance of seven countries: Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan. It was created on the basis of the Collective Security Treaty of the May 15, 1992, which was turned into an international organization on May 14, 2002. The CSTO received the status of observer at the U.N. General Assembly on December 2, 2004. The purpose of the CSTO is to guarantee the national security of each of its members and to ensure their territorial integrity. In case of a menace, looming over any member-country, all the other CSTO participants will be duty-bound to give it all the necessary aid, including military assistance.
On October 7, 2002, the Presidents of Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia and Tajikistan, signed a charter in Tashkent, founding the Collective Security Treaty Organization. Nikolai Bordyuzha was appointed secretary general of the new organization. On June 23, 2006, Uzbekistan became a full participant in the CSTO and its membership was formally ratified by its parliament on March 28, 2008. The CSTO is an observer organization at the United Nations General Assembly. The charter reaffirmed the desire of all participating states to abstain from the use or threat of force. Signatories would not be able to join other military alliances or other groups of states, while aggression against one signatory would be perceived as an aggression against all. To this end, the CSTO holds yearly military command exercises for the CSTO nations to have an opportunity to improve inter-organisation cooperation.