Raman Yakauleuski: CSTO is tool of Russia’s imperial policy

A document on creation of collective response forces has been signed under pressure of Russia, analysts believe.

“No matter how everybody defends one’s sovereignty, but the CSTO is one of the key tools of Russian policy’s implementation,” a well-known analyst Raman Yakauleuski commented to Radio Svaboda. “It is the policy which is more and more often called imperial lately. It is the policy of Russian influence on the territory of post-Soviet countries. Other countries are attached by military-technical deliveries, weapons deliveries at internal Russian prices. For Russia it is beneficial to hold former Soviet republics at its orbit. I would like to underline once again that the CSTO is one of the most important elements of this policy, which has been enhanced due to the CSTO collective rapid reaction forces, one of the tools of Russian response policy’s implementation”.

According to Raman Yakauleuski, Lukashenka saw benefit in creation of collective rapid reaction forces.

“Military element is most important in the CSTO. But the CSTO is not an organisation of democratic countries. And, undoubtedly, boosting up of the military element is in the interests of the regime which is ruling in Belarus now,” the analyst believes.

As we have informed, it is planned that the collective forces are to be deployed in Russia, and military units of other CSTO members are to join them. The CSTO members are Belarus, Armenia, Russia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan.