RUSSIA'S CREATING ITS OWN NATO
SOURCE: Kommersant, No 225, p.10
by Mikhail Zygar
RusData Dialine - Russian Press Digest
November 30, 2005 Wednesday
Foreign ministers of the Collective Security Treaty Organization
meetin Moscow
A meeting of the foreign ministers' council of the Collective Security
Treaty Organization (ODKB) began yesterday in Moscow. The participants
will sign an agreement on creating a joint peacekeeping force, which
Moscow hopes to turn into a mobile force, modeled after similar
NATO units. Until recently Russia's ODKB partners were not eager to
create such a force. However, this time, in order to interest them,
Moscow is ready to offer the most active partners new discounts for
Russian natural gas supplies.
Today the foreign ministers of the ODKB's six member states (Armenia,
Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia and Tajikistan) will sign
an agreement on conducting joint peacekeeping operation in case the
situation in one of the member countries destabilizes. The participants
of the meeting will be received by the Russian President Vladimir
Putin, who, according to the Kommersant's sources, will tell them
that the ODKB peacekeeping forces should not be less mobile or less
effective than the NATO's ones. The president will also once again
declare the course on building closer ties between ODKB on one side
and China and Uzbekistan on the other.
The meeting also is to approve the ODKB's 2006 budget, and Russia is
trying to allocate more funds within it towards financing the joint
mobile forces. Apart from that, Moscow will promise to encourage its
most active partners through offering additional gas discounts.
SOURCE: Kommersant, No 225, p.10
by Mikhail Zygar
RusData Dialine - Russian Press Digest
November 30, 2005 Wednesday
Foreign ministers of the Collective Security Treaty Organization
meetin Moscow
A meeting of the foreign ministers' council of the Collective Security
Treaty Organization (ODKB) began yesterday in Moscow. The participants
will sign an agreement on creating a joint peacekeeping force, which
Moscow hopes to turn into a mobile force, modeled after similar
NATO units. Until recently Russia's ODKB partners were not eager to
create such a force. However, this time, in order to interest them,
Moscow is ready to offer the most active partners new discounts for
Russian natural gas supplies.
Today the foreign ministers of the ODKB's six member states (Armenia,
Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia and Tajikistan) will sign
an agreement on conducting joint peacekeeping operation in case the
situation in one of the member countries destabilizes. The participants
of the meeting will be received by the Russian President Vladimir
Putin, who, according to the Kommersant's sources, will tell them
that the ODKB peacekeeping forces should not be less mobile or less
effective than the NATO's ones. The president will also once again
declare the course on building closer ties between ODKB on one side
and China and Uzbekistan on the other.
The meeting also is to approve the ODKB's 2006 budget, and Russia is
trying to allocate more funds within it towards financing the joint
mobile forces. Apart from that, Moscow will promise to encourage its
most active partners through offering additional gas discounts.
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