MOSCOW. Feb 5 (Interfax-AVN) - The goal of the rapid reaction forces of the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) is to stabilize the situation in Central Asia and to provide a shield against international terrorism, Russian political scientists said.
"The CSTO's collective rapid reaction forces will be used to maintain security in a region which is likely to rank second in the 21st century in terms of military-political risks, after the Middle East," Effective Policy Fund President Gleb Pavlovsky told Interfax.
Participants in a CSTO summit, held in Moscow on Wednesday, agreed that collective rapid reaction forces must be formed. The summit was attended by the presidents of Russia, Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan.
The members' common position on the plan to form collective rapid reaction forces reflects real threats, Pavlovsky said. "Young states in Central Asia are interested in strengthening their national security. Russia, too, has a real interest, as it needs a security belt near its borders," he said.
Besides that, the CSTO's prospective rapid reaction forces largely reflect potential risks in the South Caucasus region, he said. "In the Caucasus we have a young and aggressive revisionist state - Georgia - which wants the borders to be redrawn," Pavlovsky said.
The CSTO's new structure will, above all, provide protection from radical Islamism, and is not a counterweight to other military-political unions, such as NATO, said Sergei Markov, director of the Institute of Political Studies.
"The CSTO is forming rapid reaction forces primarily to deal with challenges from the south, generated by radical Islamists and international terrorists," Markov told Interfax.
"It would be wrong to view the CSTO's structures as a counterweight to NATO," he said.