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EurasiaNet.org, NY
Sept 19 2012
CSTO Exercises Tiptoe Around Armenia-Azerbaijan Conflict
September 19, 2012 - 2:56pm, by Joshua Kucera
A Kazakhstan soldier takes part in the CSTO exercises in Armenia
The Collective Security Treaty Organization has wrapped up its annual
military exercises, held this year in Armenia, with the group's
general secretary saying the group needs to create its own military
forces, including air forces, in Central Asia. But at a time of
heightened tensions in the Caucasus, the drills took a relatively low
profile.
Not much has been said about the scenario of the exercises, called
"Interaction-2012," the first of the CSTO to be held in the Caucasus.
The scale of these exercises was much smaller than last year's --
about 2,000 troops, compared to 24,000 last year spread out over
several countries, half in Central Asia and the other half in Belarus.
(The CSTO is led by Russia and also includes Armenia, Belarus,
Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, and Tajikistan.)
It was an interesting time for the exercises to be held in Armenia,
just after tensions spiked as a result of the extradition and pardon
of Ramil Safarov, the Azerbaijani soldier who killed an Armenian
colleague at a NATO event in Hungary. There has been a lot of
speculation about whether the CSTO would come to the aid of Armenia in
the event of a war over Nagorno Karabakh. Armenia actually postponed
the start of the exercises a week, from September 8 to September 15.
No explanation for the delay was given, other than that it was due to
"technical reasons," but it's no small matter to reschedule, at the
last minute, a multi-country military exercise. The announcement of
the delay was August 30 -- and the next day, Safarov was released. Was
there a connection?
In the days after the pardon, the CSTO's Nikolay Bordyuzha criticized
Azerbaijan for the Safarov pardon, drawing an angry response from
Baku. And intriguingly, Nagorno Karabakh's de facto defense minister
did attend the exercises. Still, both the Armenian and Azerbaijani
sides seemed relatively muted, and neither seemed to really push the
notion of CSTO involvement in their conflict.
Bordyuzha, speaking during the event, proposed creating a CSTO
military, "uniting all existing components," would include
rapid-reaction forces in Central Asia, including an aviation
component, which "could transport personnel and units to conflict
zones, providing military cover to operations."
It's not clear exactly what this would entail, and given that the
ratio of CSTO proposals to CSTO action is quite high, we might not
react too strongly to this quite yet. But it certainly indicates a
desire on Russia's part to take a more active security role in Central
Asia -- if not in the Caucasus.
http://www.eurasianet.org/node/65934
From: A. Papazian
Sept 19 2012
CSTO Exercises Tiptoe Around Armenia-Azerbaijan Conflict
September 19, 2012 - 2:56pm, by Joshua Kucera
A Kazakhstan soldier takes part in the CSTO exercises in Armenia
The Collective Security Treaty Organization has wrapped up its annual
military exercises, held this year in Armenia, with the group's
general secretary saying the group needs to create its own military
forces, including air forces, in Central Asia. But at a time of
heightened tensions in the Caucasus, the drills took a relatively low
profile.
Not much has been said about the scenario of the exercises, called
"Interaction-2012," the first of the CSTO to be held in the Caucasus.
The scale of these exercises was much smaller than last year's --
about 2,000 troops, compared to 24,000 last year spread out over
several countries, half in Central Asia and the other half in Belarus.
(The CSTO is led by Russia and also includes Armenia, Belarus,
Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, and Tajikistan.)
It was an interesting time for the exercises to be held in Armenia,
just after tensions spiked as a result of the extradition and pardon
of Ramil Safarov, the Azerbaijani soldier who killed an Armenian
colleague at a NATO event in Hungary. There has been a lot of
speculation about whether the CSTO would come to the aid of Armenia in
the event of a war over Nagorno Karabakh. Armenia actually postponed
the start of the exercises a week, from September 8 to September 15.
No explanation for the delay was given, other than that it was due to
"technical reasons," but it's no small matter to reschedule, at the
last minute, a multi-country military exercise. The announcement of
the delay was August 30 -- and the next day, Safarov was released. Was
there a connection?
In the days after the pardon, the CSTO's Nikolay Bordyuzha criticized
Azerbaijan for the Safarov pardon, drawing an angry response from
Baku. And intriguingly, Nagorno Karabakh's de facto defense minister
did attend the exercises. Still, both the Armenian and Azerbaijani
sides seemed relatively muted, and neither seemed to really push the
notion of CSTO involvement in their conflict.
Bordyuzha, speaking during the event, proposed creating a CSTO
military, "uniting all existing components," would include
rapid-reaction forces in Central Asia, including an aviation
component, which "could transport personnel and units to conflict
zones, providing military cover to operations."
It's not clear exactly what this would entail, and given that the
ratio of CSTO proposals to CSTO action is quite high, we might not
react too strongly to this quite yet. But it certainly indicates a
desire on Russia's part to take a more active security role in Central
Asia -- if not in the Caucasus.
http://www.eurasianet.org/node/65934
From: A. Papazian