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Belarus to contribute 5,000-strong contingent to CSTO rapid response force, paper says

Belarus will contribute a contingent of some 5,000 to the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO)’s Collective Rapid Response Force (CRRF), Russia’s newspaper Kommersant said on Wednesday.

The CSTO secretariat announced on October 20 that Belarus had joined the security bloc's agreement on the establishment of the rapid response force.

Referring to a source with the Russian defense ministry, Kommersant claimed that the Belarusian contingent would consist of the Armed Forces’ special task brigade, the counter-terrorist unit of the Committee for State Security, the interior ministry’s special task unit and the emergency management ministry’s unit.

According to the newspaper, Belarus “will become a key CRRF member state along with Russia and Kazakhstan.”

Russia has pledged to contribute 8,000 staff of its airborne division and assault landing brigade to the joint force, while Kazakhstan’s contingent is to include a 4,000-strong assault landing brigade and three more units representing the country’s interior and emergency management ministries and state security service, Kommersant said. “Armenia, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan have limited [their contribution] to a battalion each, while Uzbekistan has refused to participate in the establishment of the CRRF,” the paper noted.

When reached by BelaPAN, the CSTO secretariat said that the numerical strength of the countries’ CRRF contingents was classified information and could be disclosed only after an appropriate decision by the governments.

The CSTO comprises Armenia, Belarus, Russia and four Central Asian nations: Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan.

The CRRF would be used for repelling “military aggression,” conducting operations to combat international terrorism and extremism, transnational organized crime and drug trafficking, dealing with the aftermath of natural and man-made disasters, and ensuring the CSTO’s efficient participation in the maintenance of international peace and security.

All CSTO member states except Belarus and Uzbekistan signed the agreement at a summit held in Moscow on June 14. Mr. Lukashenka boycotted the meeting in protest against Russia’s decision to ban the import of nearly all dairy products from Belarus earlier that month. //BelaPAN