Kazakhstan, Astana, Aug. 15 / Trend A. Maratov /
The decision not to send the CSTO peacekeeping forces to the south of Kyrgyzstan last year during the ethnic clashes between Kyrgyz and Uzbeks was correct, Secretary General of the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) Nikolai Bordyuzha said.
"The decision was made by all CSTO member-states," Bordyuzha said at a videopress conference "Moscow-Astana". "It was conscious. No country stated on the need for sending troops."
The further development in the south of the country confirmed that the decision was correct.
The CSTO followed the way to help the Kyrgyz security forces to provide local operations aimed at stabilizing the situation that period, Bordyuzha said.
"It is absolutely wrong to say that the CSTO is ineffective because it did not send troops [to Kyrgyzstan]," he said.
Increasing the efficiency of the organization's activity was also considered.
Belarus, as a CSTO chairman in 2011, actively works to reform the organization. It seeks to transform its military-political bloc, ready to help in a crisis situation.
All heads of member-states, except for Uzbek President Islam Karimov attended the summit.
The experts think that President Karimov's disappointment over the CSTO's effectiveness may be the reason. As a result of ethnic clashes in southern Kyrgyzstan last year, about 500 ethnic Uzbeks were killed.
CSTO is a military-political alliance, uniting seven CIS countries: Russia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Belarus, Uzbekistan and Armenia.