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Uzbekistan confirms decision to suspend CSTO membership

29 June 2012 18:04 (UTC +04:00)

Baku-APA. Uzbekistan had decided to suspend its membership of the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO), the official Jahon news agency reported Friday, APA reports quoting Xinhua.

Advice of the suspension was sent to the regional military and political bloc’s secretariat on June 20, the report said.

CSTO Press Secretary Vladimir Zainetdinov confirmed Thursday the secretariat had received the note, adding "a legal assessment of the documents we’ve received is underway. Also, we are drafting a report to the CSTO heads of state."

The Jahon report said the note laid out the reasons for the country’s decision to withdraw but did not detail those reasons.

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

Uzbekistan was a founding member of the CSTO but quit in 1999 before returning in 2006.

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