MOSCOW, September 1 (AVN) - Defence Minister Igor Sergeyev has urged President Vladimir Putin to beef up Russia's activities in Central Asia and provide more help to the region's nations combating Islamic guerrillas, the Military News Agency learned on Friday.
Thanks to the guerrilla invasion, Russia has a chance to reinforce its positions in Central Asia, but it must be decisive in its actions and help unify the Central Asian nations for joint operations against the extremists, Sergeyev said in his report on the results of the Combat Commonwealth 2000 joint training and talks between members of the CIS Defence Ministers Council. Both activities took place at the southern Russian Ashuluk testing ground on August 21-26.
Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan, that are Russia's partners in the CIS Collective Security Treaty, are "getting irritated" by numerous statements and declarative decisions that Moscow is making while they are rebuffing massive guerrilla attacks, Sergeyev said.
In the course of the consultations, their defence ministers "expressed dissatisfaction over the fact that experience in joint operations against invading guerrillas gained in the course of the Southern Shield of the Commonwealth 1999 and 2000 exercises is not used because of absence of political decisions," Sergeyev added.