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Military build-up unnecessary in Central Asia — CSTO secretary general

There is a plan for minimizing threats and challenges that the organization can face after the withdrawal of NATO troops from Afghanistan, Nikolai Bordyuzha specified
CSTO Secretary General Nikolai Bordyuzha ITAR-TASS/Anton Novoderezhkin
CSTO Secretary General Nikolai Bordyuzha
© ITAR-TASS/Anton Novoderezhkin

YEKATERINBURG, April 22. /ITAR-TASS/. The Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) sees no need for building up military presence in Central Asia after the NATO-led coalition leaves Afghanistan, the organization’s secretary general said.

“I should say our youth is afflicted by chemical drugs from Europe. This is a serious challenge,” he said.

Earlier, director of the Russian Institute for Strategic Studies, Lieutenant-General Leonid Reshetnikov told ITAR-TASS that drug trafficking from Afghanistan had increased 40 times since NATO began its operation in that country.