MOSCOW, November 29 (RIA Novosti) - Russia has no plans to deploy military bases to member countries of the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO), a senior official said Tuesday. Igor Ivanov, the secretary of the Russian Security Council, said Uzbekistan had made its own decision regarding the U.S. air base deployed on its territory during the antiterrorism campaign in Afghanistan. Ivanov said the CSTO, which comprises Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia and Tajikistan, was "getting on its feet".
"We are stepping up cooperation with the CIS and Eurasec and have started contacts with NATO," Ivanov said. "We are positive cooperation with other organizations will help ensure our security."
The CSTO, which, according to some experts, was created to prevent NATO's further eastward expansion, has a Collective Rapid Retaliation Force with 1,500 military personnel deployed in Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan and continues to create military groups and supply them with munitions.
The United States had acquired bases or transit rights for the passage of warplanes and military supplies from countries in Central Asia and the Middle East, a historic first. Among other countries, the U.S. concluded base agreements with Pakistan and three former Soviet republics, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan.
In July, some of the republics demanded a timeframe for the withdrawal of the U.S. bases.
