Tbilisi Downplays CSTO’s Potential Role in Peacekeeping

The Georgian Foreign Ministry downplayed a statement by Nikolay Bordyuzha, the Secretary General of the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO), on August 21 after Bordyuzha hinted that CSTO could potentially contribute to peacekeeping operations in Abkhazia and South Ossetia.

CSTO was originally formed in the frame of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) in 1992. Georgia joined the organization a year later, but withdrew in 1999. Currently Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan are members of CSTO.

“Such statement [by the CSTO Secretary General] can only cause surprise. Mr. Bordyuzha seems to forget that Georgia has long ceased to be a member of the Collective Security Treaty Organization and whatever decision may be adopted within this organization, it will carry no force on the territory of Georgia,” the Georgian Foreign Ministry said in an information note.