CSTO to deploy troops and missile defense shield in Central Asia

PanARMENIAN.Net - Member countries of the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) - Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia and Tajikistan - agreed to deploy troops and missile defense shield in Central Asia to 'control the situation over tensions in Afghanistan.'



"Collective forces of quick deployment consisting of 10 battalions will form the backbone of the contingent," CSTO Secretary General Nikolay Bordyuzha said.



"Russia is the only country to ensure security of Abkhazia and South Ossetia," he said, adding that neither of the republics requested membership in the Organization yet.



"The CSTO is open for new members but we are interested in countries, which are really interested in cooperation," he emphasized.



Early this week, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Abkhazia and South Ossetia's joining the CSTO is juridically impossible, as they have not been recognized by international institutes yet, Russian media reports.