 |
| NATO Logo (left) --|-- CSTO Logo (right) |
By Ankit Panda
The Russia-led military alliance has given up all pretenses of cooperation with NATO and will look toward the SCO.
According to a report in RIA Novosti, the Russian-led Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) has suspended all contacts with NATO due to the crisis in Ukraine. Russia’s preeminent status as a leader in CSTO effectively guaranteed that the organization would have to sever ties with NATO, given the impasse over Russia’s annexation of Crimea and its current coercive position on the eastern Ukrainian frontier. CSTO Secretary-General Nikolai Bordyuzha told a press conference, “For now we will not be making any efforts to establish contact with NATO, due to their stance during the Ukrainian crisis.”
According to the Secretary-General, NATO is “blackmailing” Russia and its CSTO allies. ”Today, NATO is blackmailing all of the CSTO member states … showing that they are extremely dissatisfied with Russia’s actions in recent months,” he told reporters. NATO and its member states are heavily involved in the management of the Ukrainian crisis and are striving to prevent separatism and instability in eastern Ukraine following Russia’s successful annexation of Crimea. Last week, NATO Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen indicated that NATO will ready additional troops and equipment to prepare for any combat operations that might be necessary in connection with the Ukrainian crisis.
One report in the Belarussian Telegraph Agency further cites Bordyuzha as stating that, after several failed attempts at cooperating with NATO, the CSTO will look towards the Shanghai Cooperation Organization and China. “We are also about to start cooperating with other organizations that take care of security matters in the Asian region,” he said. Bordyuzha also referred to Iran as a burgeoning partner for the CSTO.
Read the full story at The Diplomat