MOSCOW. May 23 (Interfax-AVN) - The emerging Collective Security Treaty Organization is willing to cooperate with NATO.
This is because "we have common tasks and problems," Nikolai Bordyuzha, secretary general of the Collective Security Council, told a Friday news conference at the Interfax main office.
He said the Collective Security Treaty Organization is an international organization and will be registered with the United Nations.
Nevertheless, he expressed concerns about the continuing enlargement of NATO. "I don't quite understand this NATO enlargement to Russia's borders, the borders of the Collective Security Treaty Organization. I don't quite understand the modernization of the infrastructure in the immediate vicinity of the borders of countries of the Collective Security Treaty Organization and Russia," he added.
"Is there any threat of military intervention?" he wondered.
"The state should adequately respond to any move related to the strengthening of military groups in any direction. Therefore we will be taking corresponding efforts," Bordyuzha said.
Speaking of the organization's armed forces, he said that Russia-Belarus and Russia-Armenia military groups have been set up in keeping with bilateral treaties. These formations are regarded as part of the military contingent of the organization, he said.
As for the Collective Quick-Response Force, it consists of four battalions, Bordyuzha said. Steps are being taken to open a base in Kant, Kyrgyzstan, that should benefit the organization, he added.
"We have calculated the required amount of forces and means, and we have transferred hardware, including aircraft. Our most important goal is to reach the required level of combat training and to make the force a truly mobile one," Bordyuzha said.
According to him, "political plans include creation of regional forces, but it is up to the Unified Headquarters to deal with their creation."
The Collective Security Treaty Organization's charter "includes an article that says directly that in case a threat emerges to the sovereignty and national security of one member nation, all other member nations consider it an attack on themselves and take measures to protect that nation," Bordyuzha said.
On the other hand, "none of the nations involved in the Collective Security Treaty Organization can take measures that can result in a threat to the security of a partner in the treaty," he concluded.