Difficult CIS summit for Russia, CSTO role examined

RUSSIA / FSU POLITICS - In Brief 16 Oct 2022 by Alex Teddy
On October 14, the CIS leaders’ summit started in Kazakhstan. It proved to be a testing summit for Russia, mainly on account of regional questions around security and hierarchies. Also within the CIS are the six nations that make up the Collective Security Treaty Organization. The CSTO alliance is Russian dominated. In January 2022 the CSTO came to the aid of Kazakhstan during unrest. Belarus is the only CSTO nation to have helped Russia in its war against Ukraine. Armenia is disappointed that Russia has not helped it during recent Azerbaijani attacks. Armenia invoked Article 4 of the CSTO Charter to request military assistance but received none. However, Armenia has no alternative. It needs Russian arms and cannot afford to source arms elsewhere. Some in Armenia question the benefit of the CSTO. Kyrgyzstan is disappointed at the lack of Russian support in clashes with fellow CSTO member Tajikistan. Some Kyrgyz say that Russia acquiesced in Tajik incursions. On October 10 Kyrgyzstan cancelled CSTO training drills due to take place there. The name of the drills was "Indestructible Brotherhood". Some Russian politicians have been openly critical of Kyrgyzstan's decision. The Kyrgyz could not tolerate Tajik troops on their soil for drills. The Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) held a separate gathering in Moscow on October 7 to celebrate Putin's birthday. The Kyrgyz President suddenly decided not to go. On October 4 Putin gave an award to the Tajik President. This irked the Kyrgyz. However, on October 14 the Tajik President criticized Putin to his face for not respecting Tajikistan. Kazakhstan has a 7,600 km border with Russia, one of the world's longest. Kazakhs a...

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