The Parliamentary Assembly Council of the post-Soviet Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) bloc has given its support to Russian President Dmitry Medvedev's initiative to improve the European security structure, the speaker of the Russian lower house of parliament said.
"We perfectly understand that security in Europe can not be built at the expense of other states," Boris Gryzlov, who also chairs the CSTO Parliamentary Assembly, said.
"The entire space must be within the overall security frames and all members of the Council have supported Russian President Dmitry Medvedev's initiative on improving the structure of European security," Gryzlov continued.
He added that the CSTO PA Council welcomed the development of the Russian leader's idea and will persuade their European colleagues that relations on security issues must be based on this approach.
The CSTO comprises Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Uzbekistan and Tajikistan.
Medvedev announced his initiative to draw up a new pan-European security pact in May 2008, and the first real draft was presented by the Kremlin in November 2009. It got responses from more than 20 governments and their administrations. The European Union and NATO have also studied the draft.
However, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said such a treaty was unnecessary.
Her position was echoed by NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen who has stated repeatedly that the West is no threat to Russia and that extra security guarantees are uncalled for.
The assembly meeting was held on Monday for the first time in Armenian capital of Yerevan.
YEREVAN, May 31 (RIA Novosti)
