MOSCOW. Nov 28 (Interfax-AVN) - Interaction among Central Asian states in maintaining collective security is an example of constructive collective cooperation, Nikolai Bordyuzha, secretary general of the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO), said on Monday.
"This is a quite complicated region as far as both the nations that have emerged in it and the events happening in it are concerned. It is complicated primarily from the point of view of security maintenance. That is why most of the states situated here decided to ensure national and regional security to common efforts, including with Russia, Bordyuzha told Interfax-Military News Agency.
Priorities in collective security in Central Asia are determined by existing challenges and threats, he said.
"These are primarily joint measures against terrorism. But drug trafficking is a lesser threat for the region. Central Asia today is the main transit corridor for Afghan drug trafficking," Bordyuzha noted.
The third problem is illegal migration, which is "used actively today as a social basis for terrorism and illegal trafficking of arms and drugs," he said.
In order to counter these threats, the CSTO has set up a military component represented by the Collective Rapid Deployment Forces and is holding special operations, such as the Canal international anti-terrorist effort aimed at setting up a "security belt" around Afghanistan, the secretary general stressed.
According to him, collective measures of security maintenance in the region do not violate the sovereignty of the involved states or their rights to determine their internal and foreign policy independently.
The CSTO brings together Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia and Tajikistan.