Asia

Home page

Asia

CSTO confirms Uzbekistan’s decision to quit

28 June 2012 20:17 (UTC +04:00)

Baku-APA. The Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) confirmed Thursday it has received a document from Uzbekistan on the country’s suspension of its membership in the regional military and political bloc, APA reports quoting Xinhua.

"I confirm the CSTO Secretariat has received a note on suspension of Uzbekistan’s activity within the framework of the alliance," CSTO Press Secretary Vladimir Zainetdinov told reporters here.

"A legal assessment of the documents we’ve received is underway. Also, we are drafting a report to the CSTO heads of state," he said.

Earlier on Thursday, a diplomatic source in Moscow told local media that Uzbekistan has informed CSTO its decision to withdraw from the bloc.

Founded in May 2002 under the framework of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS), the seven-member CSTO groups Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan.

Uzbekistan was among the founding countries of the CSTO, but it quitted from the bloc in 1999. After an interval of seven years, the Uzbek government restored the country’s membership in 2006.

In May, Uzbek leader was absent from a CSTO summit in Moscow marking the 10th anniversary of the bloc’s establishment.

Russia has been supporting the transformation of the CSTO from a military and political organization into a multifunctional regional body.