Uzbekistan: Tashkent Issues Critique of CSTO Rapid Reaction Force

Uzbekistan refused to join the Collective Security Treaty Organization's rapid response force because of concerns that it could potentially be used to meddle in the internal affairs of member states, according to a statement issued by the Uzbek Foreign Ministry.

The statement asserted that the creation of the Collective Rapid Response Force (CRRF) on June 14 in Moscow did not adhere to a series of "principled positions." [For background see the Eurasia Insight archive]. Chief among them is the threat of interference in a state's domestic affairs, the Foreign Ministry's June 23 statement said.

"[The CRRF] should only be used to repulse foreign threats and challenges to security," the statement said. "Uzbekistan is proceeding from the fact that each CSTO member state is able to resolve its domestic conflicts and problems with its own forces without involving armed forces from abroad."

"The CRRF should not be turned into a tool to resolve some disputed Issues -- not only within the CSTO but also in the [Commonwealth of Independent States] CIS space," the Uzbek statement added.